115: Living is Hard, But at Least You're Still Involved
We all do our best, don't we?
We life-hack our way though the weeds in search of a formula or a field-guide to make life...well...less hard.
On the contrary, there's truth to the statement, "You don't 'solve' a mountain, you climb it."1
I'm on the Life is Good bandwagon for sure.
But reality comes knocking on occasion and the script is flipped reminding us that life is hard.
I realize I'm preaching-to-the-choir, especially if you've made a few trips around the sun.
Aging has confirmed the uphill slog of living, perhaps much too often for you.
Sisyphus would agree, according to philosopher, Albert Camus.
"The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. They had thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor."2
There are days you hit life and living hard - giving it all you've got.
And there are days when life hits back.
Refuse to wrestle with life, instead seek meaning in the "hard"
I'm a fan of doing-hard-things because I know that if I can push through, there's growth, wisdom, and resilience on the other side of the challenge.
You'll be better equipped and feel less "whipped" the next time around - that's the power of embracing the "hard."
- There's peace even in life's uncertainties
- You can live through chaos
- Wisdom is the gift of experience
Find your peace in the uncertainty
You never step into the same stream twice, the saying goes.
That's true because streams flow.
It's as futile to try stopping the flow so your experience remains the same as it is to think you will find peace by avoiding the hard stuff you encounter.
Peace comes when you accept the flow.
Life can flow into certain places as well as uncertain places - there are no guarantees of where yours will pool.
What is guaranteed and certain is right here, right now.
You don't need to solve the whys of uncertainty to have peace.
You need to step into the uncertainty, go with the flow, and be in the moment.
Speaking of...
Be present in the chaos
The Bible confirms, There's "...a time to cry and a time to laugh,."3
Laugh often. Cry when necessary. Keep going even when the chaos of living reduces your visibility as if driving through a fog.
Hunter S. Thompson provides chaos-confidence through his writing in The Proud Highway,
“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!”4
The chaotic journey through life is real and sometimes treacherous but you can choose your response to it.
Meet your life and all the chaos that comes with it with an eyes and heart wide-open, pedal-to-the-metal attitude.
You might reach the finish line feeling tired, used up, and worn-out, but I do believe that's what's called...living.
Gain wisdom from the experience
Aging has given me a curious ability to question things.
I'm not talking about an existential kind of questioning rather a line of questioning that leads to increased wisdom and understanding about what I've always accepted without question.
Stop trying to be right and begin wondering more about why someone thinks you're not (right).
Contrary opinions and ideas are fertile soil for fresh wisdom.
Think your way through your experiences more than you talk your way through or out of them.
Wisdom ponders more than it pontificates.
Have the difficult conversations - you might be the wiser because of it.
Say "yes" to an experience that stretches your available energies - you could increase your capacity for more opportunities.
Avoid making life harder than it needs to be by accepting that life is, on occasion, hard
And while you're living your way through the chaos keep this in mind:
"I get up. I walk. I fall down. Meanwhile, I keep dancing."- Daniel Hillel 5
- Find your peace in the uncertainty
- Be present in the chaos
- Gain wisdom from the experience
Press on...
Eddie
Sources:
2-Ibid.
3-Ecclesiastes 3:4, The Bible, New Living Translation.
5-Ibid.