To desire something is to want something.

Some desire is beneficial.

If we didn't desire sustenance, we would starve. If we didn't desire shelter, we would freeze to death or be swept away in some tropical storm. If we didn't desire love and connection, we would slowly––and then rather suddenly––die off.

Desire is tremendously powerful. After gravity, it might be the most formidable force on the planet. If we rule over our desire, it can be a lifelong source of fuel that burns inside each of us, allowing us to chase down our dreams and provide for both ourselves and others.

However, if we allow desire to rule over us, it will burn us alive from the inside out like a house fire.

The first sign of smoke is when desire gives way to desperation. Desire and desperation are two sides of the same coin. Desire is wanting something. Desperation is believing you can't live without something.

It's not only the feeling of desperation that destroys us––eating away at our happiness like a parasite––but it's the poor decisions that desperation spawns.

Desperate people do desperate things. It's these acts of desperation that lead to our destruction.

Desire is a flame. Desperation is the moth, flying towards it.