In my Get Your Sh*** Together posts I write a reply to a real person on Reddit who needs advice. Reddit has many communities dedicated to Self-Improvement. People drop comments about a wide range of issues.
Some of these comments are interesting. However, I believe they reflect how many people feel.
Happiness is a choice, and everything else is a matter of perspective.
Image by eslfuntaiwan from Pixabay
Dystopia
I feel like every day is getting harder and harder. I increasingly feel like my life is purposeless in this doomed world where we are fed poison and used for monetary gain for the rich. It just feels like why even try? I’ll probably never own a home, retire, or really get any fruits of my labor.
Dystopia,
Many people feel like you. Especially the younger generations today. I can relate to your hopelessness because I’ve gone through stages of nihilism myself.
The game is “rigged” as they say.
Well, I’m going to challenge you today. I want you to think about something that makes you happy.
Now, I know you think there’s nothing to be happy about. Life sucks…the game is rigged…we’re all going to die.
Make something up and pretend life is fantastic.
Are you done?
Okay, how did that make you feel?
I bet you felt happy when you thought about the thing that makes you happy. Right?
That’s how the relationship between thoughts and emotions work. You can trigger positive emotions by thinking about something positive. Even if it’s not real.
l bet you’re thinking, how does that help? Life is still terrible.
People are dying…The rich keep getting richer…I’ll never own a house…I’ll work to the day I die and not own anything…
Here’s some advice that comes from experience. There’s always going to be suffering. Someone will always go without having enough.
Does it make me callous for saying that? Perhaps.
Does that make uncaring? Not at all. It’s just reality.
People like to glorify nature and pretend that it’s nothing but rainbows and unicorns. But nature is savage. The circle of life demands that the old, the weak, and the young become food for the strong.
Human’s can and should change. But it would be a lot easier if nature wasn’t trying to kill us.
Life is what it is and the only thing you have control of are your choices.
You can choose thoughts that make you feel like a victim or choose ones that make you feel good. You can’t change anything about your life until you change that.
Someone gave me this advice when I was young. But it took me many years to figure out the significance.
Be the calm within the storm.
When life’s a storm, be the eye of the storm. Stay calm and don’t be influenced by the chaos around you. It sounds easier said than done though.
The trick is to understand that storms create opportunities. You won’t find your purpose when things are easy. You find it when there's a boat load of problems to solve. That's when you have to get your hands dirty and start doing the work.
There are a lot of problems in the world, so take your pick. But there are also a lot of opportunities.
Until next time...
