I’m always pondering what it means to live a good life, a meaningful life, a rewarding life.
Society often seems to tell us that in order to be successful, however we may define that term, we need to pursue the brass ring - if you can just find the right partner, or start the right company, or earn X more dollars per year, or get that big promotion, then everything will finally fall into place and we’ll be happy for the rest of our days.
But it’s an illusion and one that prevents us from finding true happiness. The reality is that no matter who you are, where you live, how much money you have, how impressive your job title might be, how many followers you have on social media, we’re all going to spend a non-trivial portion of our lives struggling. That’s the nature of life - it’s not easy.
This lovely blog article by Caitlyn Richardson eloquently argues that if, instead of always trying to get to a mythical place where everything is perfect, we can learn to accept some amount of pain and appreciate the quiet moments of joy in where we are now, that might just be the key to fulfillment.