PAIN

 "Is a world without pain possible? Then don't ask the impossible" 

- Marcus Aurelius

To suffer is to live.

Often we think to ourselves: 

Why is this happening to me?

Why couldn't life be more forgiving? fairer? better?

Why do I have to suffer?

Stop. Just stop for one second and think about the nature of these questions.

Because if you truly get down to the core of them, they are not only debilitating but also illogical and irrational.

The fact of the matter is: Suffering is an essential and integral part of life.

"What kind of bleak message is this?" you might be asking yourself.

But right there is where you made your second blunder.

For this is as anti-bleak as it can get.

Answer me this question:

How would you know that any good actually exists?

Your answer might be: By seeing it. By experiencing it. By feeling it.

But again you're missing the point, which is:

To know that anything good exists is to see the bad and the neutral of that thing, to distinguish these differences by discerning and/or experiencing them, and to label them.

To put it more simply:

YOU HAVE TO EXPERIENCE THE BAD IN ORDER TO FULLY CONCEPTUALIZE AND REALIZE THE GOOD.

Do you realize what this means?

This means that without suffering, which we mostly regard as bad, you would not be able TO ENJOY, TO IMPROVE, TO BE GRATEFUL, TO LEARN, TO PROSPER, and the list goes on.

The pain you are feeling is the key to your happiness and to all the good that is to come.

Now don't interpret the next sentence as a call for masochism. But if you truly do realize this concept, you will not only accept pain, rather you will LOVE IT.

You would put yourself in situations where you are exposed to things that can be regarded as bad and painful, even temporarily. You would tackle your pain, and the fears that come with it, head-on. With courage and nobility.

Why? Because this is the most guaranteed way for improvement, for achieving any goal, and for succeeding at anything.

You would come to embrace pain and be thankful for its existence because the lack of it is not only impossible but also inefficient and leads to no progress.

Mold yourself with what life has given you.

Take control of what is in your control.

You literally need nothing more.

Never aim for the impossible.

You're better off without it.

AMOR FATI