It is no accident that you go through most of your life stumbling from one crisis into another. 

Whatever you do and wherever you are, there is always something stopping you from truly living in the moment and embracing reality. 

It is either money, midterms, rent, family affairs, your shit job, troubled relationships, or one of a million things that can go wrong – or did go wrong. We burn through our 20’s and 30’s chasing life instead of actually living it. Every semi-interesting person I know is going through some kind of a mid (or quarter) life crisis. We are being consumed by worry and doubt, and life passes us by at the speed of light.

And it feels like there is no way out.

No escape. 

To live is to suffer. 

That’s what the religious people have always been trying to tell us, but nobody’s listened.

Life is suffering. 

So what are you supposed to do in the face of this suffering?  

You pick up your damn suffering and bear it. You try to reduce it. 

You try to become a better person, so you don’t make it any worse for yourself or others.

And it is hard. Because there is so much pain and injustice in this world. So many reasons to be resentful about your life and this entire existence. 

It is so easy to hate everything and everyone and feel like you are a victim of bad luck and circumstances. 

It is indeed the easy way out to become a piece of shit – just like everyone else.

Don’t.

Start with yourself. Get your shit together. Pull yourself and stand solid, so in times of crisis people can rely on you.

Overcome the suffering of living by becoming a better person.

And that is hard. It takes responsibility. Because if you want your life to have meaning, then everything you do matters.

Everything.

What you eat. What you do for a living. What you do with your free time. The music you listen to. The books you read. The movies you watch. What you consume on social media. The way you dress. The way you smell. Your physical abilities. Your social circle. Your entire existence.

And you carry that with you through life and suffering. 

Or else, forget about this whole meaning thing, and then you don’t have any responsibility, and you can wander through life without meaning or purpose, gratifying impulsive desires.

Just take a look around you. 

All these ruined people out there . . with that gravitational pull towards the bottom.

But this is the bottom of it. This is the oldest story in the history of mankind.

Get your shit together. 

Transcend your suffering. 

Crawl into the light. 

“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ²⁵ For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. ²⁶ For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” – Matthew 6:24-26.