Suzan Song’s line begins by challenging a cherished assumption: that stability is a real, dependable state we can secure and keep. By calling it “merely an illusion,” she suggests that what we label as stable is often just a temporary alignment of circumstances—health, money, relationships, routines—held together by forces we only partly control.
From there, the quote pivots us toward a more sobering but liberating view: if change is constant, then clinging to permanence can become its own vulnerability. What feels safe today may simply be what hasn’t been tested yet, and the pursuit of perfect steadiness may set us up for sharper disappointment when life inevitably shifts. [...]