Pop warner coaches always tell their players that you grow when it is tough. Living the easy life and becoming complacent with our current situation provides little opportunity to mentally or physically grow. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger loved pain, because pain meant growth. However when life becomes too difficult, surviving is the only thing one can be focused on. It is not ideal to be focused on surviving and ignore the pleasure of life.
What is the perfect balance in our lives where it is not overly difficult but neither overly plush? Do we even have control over that balance?
Sometimes in life we are dealt a bad hand. No body can accurately predict when misfortune strikes. You are laid off, get into a car accident, or a flood destroys your home, what happens next? Most people will tell you to pick up the pieces and move on, that the experience will only make you stronger. It is true that these experiences will help you grow as a person, but if you become overburdened with unfortunate events it becomes difficult to not give up. Some might resort to alcohol, drugs, or even suicide. Who is to blame them though,
However, with modern technology and progressive policy it become easier to weather tough times. If you are laid off, there is a safety net to prevent you from starving and losing everything you have. Cars on constantly being improved on to be more safe so that if you get into a car accident you chance of death or serious injury is diminished. Even in cases of serious injury from a car accident, modern medical practices offer a better prognosis of your injuries than in the past.
In first-world countries you have more opportunity thus control over how difficult your life is. Living in a country that is more economically stable gives its inhabits a higher quality of life. Certain diseases are no longer existent and food for the most part is plentiful. Instead of worrying about how difficult life is we may be worry about how easy life is becoming. Will we becomes less motivated if our standard of living becomes too high, or will a higher standard of living provide new opportunities that were not previously achievable?
In Brave New World, life is relatively easy. Commodities are readily accessible, everyone is programmed to be complacent with their life, and if one experiences too much stress a drug called soma is taken to escape reality. Nothing is wrong with enjoying the newest item, accepting your situation for as it is, or consuming alcohol or dope when life becomes stressful. This scenario however was created with lots of influence an oversight. In a naturally progressing society, a life without adversity may not be possible.
Our standard of living 200 years ago does not compare to the standard of living today. Our ancestors may scoff at our problems today, to us however they are of no small matter. If we were to see the problems that future generations face, we may scoff at them. To some degree difficult is relative and here to stay, manifesting in different forms. However, wether we can or can not eliminate difficulty in the future, we should try to embrace adversity now.
If life gives you lemons makes lemonade.
Sorry for the late post Dr. Phil, wrongly assumed that the final blog post would be due on the exam date and not earlier.
Completely agree, Life isn't easy and the problems we see in other places like Syria, compared to our own they would scoff at us. Everyone's journey and struggle is different, though this is a bit existential, we must embrace the fat that we can't change something things and that somethings just do not matter.
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