There once lived a man who was troubled by the suffering he saw in the world. Despite his comfortable life, he could not find peace.
He left his home in search of the truth.
For years, he practiced extreme forms of self-denial and meditation, hoping to achieve liberation from the cycle of birth and death.
But he did not find the answers he was seeking.
Finally, he sat down beneath a bodhi tree and resolved to remain there until he got the answer.
He battled his inner demons, facing his doubts, fears, and desires.
Until one day, he saw through the veil of illusion and realized the truth of existence:
— all things are impermanent, and suffering arises from attachment and desire
— true peace can only be found by letting go of these things
and most importantly
— life is suffering
Sorry, I know, it sounds terrible, but it is liberating.
Because we can choose our suffering, we have the power, and thus we can live in peace.
The man spent the rest of his life teaching others about the path to enlightenment and helping them to face their own suffering.
He faced many challenges along the way, including opposition from all sorts of authorities.
But he remained firm in his commitment to spreading his message of compassion and wisdom.
As you might know, that man was none other than the Buddha.
You see, in your life, there will always be struggle.
Not only in your life, but in everyone’s life.
The poor suffer because of the lack of money, and the rich suffer because of their money.
Sure, not all suffering is equal, there is certainly more painful and less painful suffering.
But you have to accept that no matter what you do, or who you are, you will always suffer.
This might sound sad, and it is.
But if you look at it from another perspective, it’s liberating.
You have the power to choose your struggle, to choose your suffering.
What do I mean?
Let’s say you studied computer science, you did your bachelor’s and your master’s degree.
Now you got a comfortable job, making more than $ 100k per year.
But with all that comes some suffering.
You bought an expensive car, a house, and more stuff you don’t care about, only to the extent to impress others.
So there’s your struggle, you have to keep earning that much money because you’re in dept. You hate your boss, you spend half your time in stupid meetings, and you have to finish that PowerPoint presentation over the weekend.
But that’s the struggle you selected, the sacrifice you signed up for.
Another example.
Imagine you want to have a girlfriend/boyfriend.
So you have to face your fear of rejection, you have to go out on dates, approach people or use dating apps.
That means it’s inevitable to face rejection and stare on your phone waiting for her to answer, only to days later find out she ghosted you.
Your heart is going to be broken, and you’ll break someone else’s heart.
But that’s the struggle you signed up for.
If you seriously want to have a girlfriend, you have to accept that struggle, and you will.
Why?
Because your desire is stronger, the pain of not doing it is larger than the pain of not having a significant other.
Got it?
No, really?
Okay, here’s another example, my example.
Let’s say you want to become a writer, not the kind of writer who writes books only.
But, you want to write online.
You have a passion for storytelling and want to share your ideas with the world.
But you know, writing is not an easy path, you will face many struggles along the way.
You will have to fight resistance, rejection, being misunderstood, and negative feedback.
You may have to work another job to make ends meet while you pursue your passion.
You may have to sacrifice sleep and your social life.
You can choose to embrace these struggles and push through them.
But this will only be sustainable if you really want to do it.
If not, you’ll give up.
But you can choose to keep writing, even when it’s hard, and to keep seeking feedback and improving your craft.
And in doing so, you may find a sense of purpose and fulfillment that is worth all the struggle.
You see, you have the power, you can choose your struggle.
You have to think about the struggle and its alternatives, then you can commit.
If you change, what you certainly will, then you can choose a new struggle.
You have to remember, life is a struggle, but you can choose it.
You should choose it, otherwise, your struggles get chosen by someone else, and that will not make you happy.
Choose the struggles that align with your values and goals, and that bring you closer to the life you want to live.
Don’t wait for something.
Your time is now.
You got permission to choose your struggle, choose wisely.