Life. What is it to you?
Are we living just so we die? Is that our purpose? Is that all there is to it?
Death is the one inevitable occurrence in life. More so than rain and taxes — forgive me, Aunty Celine.
I was headed back to Lagos from Ibadan a couple of weeks ago and my bus drove past a fatal bus crash that — from my vantage point — looked to have claimed at least one life and I wondered, maybe that’s all there is to it.
We live, just so that we might die.
Everything in between is just highlights.
So, it goes without saying that I would be determined to make the most of my time during these ‘highlights’.
I guess this is where I now introduce my— dare I say — interesting take on how life works; how the ‘highlights’ function.
Life, to me, is an inevitable sequence of problems, punctuated by brief moments of happiness — this happiness being the result of a problem being solved and lasting up until the next problem assails you.
In essence, to me, happiness is not a thing. More appropriately, it could be expressed as the absence of problem(s) or being in a state where your present problem(s) seems solvable.
Cynical? Negative? Pragmatic? I’ve been described with all those adjectives every time I’ve shared my philosophy. I’m however not ramming it down anyone’s throat. Just saying it how I see it.
Thing is, when you think about it, if you ever stopped having problems, then you would stop making progress.
Progress is made literally by overcoming problems/challenges — becoming a better/stronger version of yourself and then waiting for the next (usually bigger) test of your newfound resolve.
Thinking like this helps me manage my expectations efficiently — both during my highs and my inevitable lows.
Thinking like this helps me understand that death isn’t necessarily a bad or a good thing; just another problem to be beaten until you cannot beat it anymore.
What is life to you?
Tell me.
