Overcoming Obstacles with Elegance and Style
When I was younger, I thought that life was rather simple; finish school, become old enough to manage your life. With some luck get a good job. Get married. Eventually, have a couple of kids. In my mind life was a mysterious game, different people, from different backgrounds, that had different expectations, and who ended up with different outcomes. The peasant and the king, the rich and the poor, the unwell wishing to capture some health. Life was indeed a mystery, one that had no true predictability. It was in a sense an open casino, where fates are decided on a cosmic roll of dice — or at least that was the idea that I had of it.
Growing older brought its joy and misery, its bliss, and its calamities. It was a bit more complicated than what I had anticipated in my younger years, and yet still the challenges felt like the progression of any game; with each level, the main protagonist was better equipped to face the level-challenge. With each level, the nature and complexity of the game advanced, bringing new elements that upended previous understandings. In addition, novel complications came to add spice and flavor to the game forcing players to constantly adapt in order to survive let alone thrive.
Where the game digression ends, the realm of consequences emerges. Actions we learn are countered by reactions that are equivalent to the initial action. This resistance of sort comes from all corners of life that coerce players to contend with at times impossible choices. The priorities overlap with responsibilities that we are burdened with. Some of the burdens are life-necessities, others we come to accept across different levels willingly. The imposed responsibilities are the most daunting, for we cannot truly part away from them. Conversely, those we select to carry-on are ours; we choose to willingly encumber.
The responsibilities that we are indued with are the ones that are life-threatening/altering. We, therefore, owe it to ourself to feed ourselves, to shelter and protect our corporal bodies from all type of harm. Nothing however compares to our responsibility to build our own success however we choose to define it — for no two individuals will have the same dream. Further afield, the responsibilities extend to other areas and aspects of our lives; to care and to love: our parents, spouses, children, friends, coworkers, fellow humans… We also have a responsibility to our environment both physical, and metaphysical — for both have direct impacts on our physical as well as mental wellbeing.
Conversely, the responsibilities that we choose on the other hand are selective and subjective, for they differ from one person to the other, and they largely depend on our convictions and beliefs. For some, it is in fighting to prevent fellow humans from eating animals — pushing for a more vegan lifestyle. In others, it is the choice to carry on a relationship with a spouse or a friend when it is clear that the expiration date on that relation has come and passed. For others, it is the choice of going above and beyond for a sick parent, sibling, or child. It is found in the burden of choice, for you are the one that chooses to be there for that individual, with the realization that it could very well mean that you are putting into jeopardy — for a while at least your own self-development and growth. With the added reality that it might have all been in vain, for that individual far from being grateful might ended being spiteful towards you.
For all the preparation I underwent, I firmly believed that I was ready to face life head-on. What I came to discover was that life was ready to counter my determination with countless little and not so little challenges that layered themselves with each passing day, week, month, and year. It is only when you look at images of days long gone when your hairline was perhaps more defined that you come to see — and perhaps, appreciate the journey that you have been on. It further compels you to contemplate on the ongoing journey you are currently embarked upon. What becomes manifest is that the future is a monster that devours our youth and leaves us either bitter about the choices that we did or did not take. Some might be able to mitigate or even tame the monster through foresight, and with clarity of action and decisiveness render the monster a nuisance rather than a calamity. For the monster will nevertheless still devour our youth and will leave us with greying hair and a heap of memories.
Some of the challenges come in the form of a child that is stubborn and not willing to sleep leading to a sleepless night with unintended consequence come the following morning. It is to be found in the spouse that is hell-bent on making their partner miserable either out of spite or ignorance; sometimes both. It is in the manager that constantly nags. It is in the weather that is either too hot or too cold — too much rain or not enough. It is in the failed ambitions of an individual that thinks that life has passed him and that they are late in attaining their objectives; personal, professional, and social.
It is my firm belief that no one truly wakes up in the morning, and with the first rays of light that enter their pupils decided to make their day a living hell. It is my belief that actions — or inactions when they start to pile up create the likelihood of a life of wretched misery, or blissful heaven. For most, life is a spectrum where to truly enjoy heaven, one needs to first get acquainted and sometimes even taste a little bit of hell.
The only question that remains is whether you want to get a taste of hell in order to understand that the consequence of your failure will lead you to it head-first. Or whether once you have tasted hell, you come to build the mental fortitude that will empower you to propel yourself towards a lasting heaven. Success in life will require toiling and hard labor, but its promise is one that I believe is worthwhile. If all else fails, it is the only way to prevent a second dip into hell, or God-forbid, to become a permanent dweller in it.
