Suffering Is the Gift of Life

The greatest gift of life is not the company of a loved one, the view from the top of the mountain, or the taste of perfectly ripe fruit.

In time, everyone comes to hurt or disappoint you. A beautiful view admired for too long loses it’s beauty. Consume the finest of foods everyday, and it simply becomes the norm.

Wonderful people. Mesmerising sights of nature. The world’s finest cuisine.

Every diamond, eventually, loses it shine.

With enough time, you can get used to anything. And you always will.

Except one thing.

It is the one thing that will never fail to make you shiver. The one thing that will never fail to cause you unease. The one thing that will strike you back till the day you die. It is forever consistent, and never loses the sharpness of its edge.

It is the suffering of life.

Unlike people who may come and go; or, the weather, which may be beautiful or dreary,

Suffering is here to stay.

It will never stop, and life will never be permanently easy.

Perhaps there were moments you thought it would. You thought you — finally — got the things you’d been so desperate for.

You’re living in the neighbourhood you want, and, with the people you want. You are free to spend your time however you want. You can afford to do all the things you desire.

Yet, despite having all the things to make life just perfect, your reality is far from it.

The sun is not brighter than it was yesterday. The grass hasn’t gotten greener. The apple doesn’t taste any sweeter.

You are at your wits end. Is the house the problem? Is it the people you spend time with? Is it the things you’re spending your time on?

Surely not. You’ve meticulously planned and thought through all of this. You surely didn’t get it wrong, so why are things the way they are?

Because, that, is life.

Life is suffering. That feeling of things not being quite right. That feeling that there is something more to find. That feeling that you aren’t spending your time in the best possible way.

That is what life is.

It is about suffering. Unending discomfort. Perpetual anxiety over things that have happened, the way things currently are, and the things that will happen in the future.

Is this description depressing? I don’t think so. Why should it be?

If you aren’t being tested — if you aren’t being bombarded — if you aren’t being pressured to the point of combustion — what are you doing?

Are you ‘relaxing?’ Are you ‘enjoying life?’ Are you ‘taking things easy?’

None of these things are you what you think they are.

What greater experience exists than that of evolution? Of reaching reaching your next form? Of reaching your ultimate form?

Evolving is the only thing you can really do.

And suffering is the greatest gift life has given you.

What greater thing could there be other than waking up to climb a new Everest?

Now, perhaps you’ll say:

“I’m just not that kind of person. I don’t want to be stressed. I don’t want to be overworked. What I want is to be able to enjoy an easy life!”

But have you realised the thing that is sitting right under your nose?

You’re already stressed. You’re already uncomfortable. You don’t have all things you want, or, perhaps you live with the hole of not knowing what you even want.

In any case, your circumstances are your circumstances.

When I talk about there being no greater feeling than that which comes from evolving or overcoming a stressor, I’m not saying you should or need become one of those ‘hyper-productive types.’ You don’t need to work 80-hour weeks, optimise every cell in your body, and consume nootropics.

However, you’d be mistaken to think the life a sloth is any better.

And you’d also be mistaken to think a ‘balanced lifestyle’ is any better.

Are there depressed CEOs? Are there depressed 9-to-5 workers? Are there depressed lazy people?

Aren’t there swathes of people across every income bracket and demographic that are miserable?

Misery is everywhere. And life can be equally miserable for all people.

But why care about other people? You are you.

And you have a list of ten thousand and ninety nine things that are making you miserable.

You feel it when you work that thing you call your job.

You feel it when the people you rely on for attention and comfort don’t quite give you the thing you want.

You feel it when you aimlessly scroll through your phone in the evening, because you basically have no idea what else you should be doing.

But a day that is spent in immersion — a day that is spent with total dedication to those things which you truly feel something toward, whether it be

transforming your physical state

your financial state

or creating art

or anything else that moves you

Those are the days you actually live.

Only suffering can give meaning.

So enjoy every drop of suffering that life gives you.

It is because of suffering that life is worth living. The opening of Pandora’s Box was the greatest thing to ever happen.