This is why Baldwin speaks of an ache rather than a simple desire: the pain comes from dissonance between who we are and what we know we could do. Psychologists describe a similar tension as “cognitive dissonance,” the stress felt when beliefs and actions don’t align. A person convinced of the need for change but frozen in fear experiences a quiet torment, like a door rattling on its hinges but never opening. Baldwin names that rattle: ideas straining toward embodiment. The longer the gap between vision and movement, the sharper the ache becomes. In this sense, our discomfort is not an enemy; it is a signal that our inner world has outgrown the confines of our current behavior and is pressing us toward growth. [...]
