I have to keep reminding myself, especially over the past few weeks, that life is not supposed to be easy. In fact, nothing great in life comes incredibly easy. It is supposed to be a challenge. There are supposed to be obstacles and roadblocks occluding success.
For some odd reason or another, many of us have a default expectation of simple or “this will be easy.” I think the media and modern culture emphasizes this idea of immediate gratification.
I like to assume, indeed a blend of the opposite…”life is going to be really hard, but it will work out in the end.” On an infinite time horizon, I believe everything comes to fruition. Getting there, though, much faster, is the challenge.
So I blend realism and optimism to have a pragmatically optimistic point of view.
I believe in us, but i know it will not be easy.
Indeed it will be really really hard.
This is a reminder to myself that things get really hard in life and to not turn around simply out of convenience but rather to continue challenging the status quo.
I also want to recognize that the hardships of life are felt throughout and in various ways by different people. I think that life, though orders of magnitude better than any previous point in history across a wide variety of metrics, is not easy. Struggle is indeed constant, and all relative.
I believe we struggle with widespread loneliness, depression, and addiction.
The world suffers greatly.
Also published on Medium.