He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.
Fredrich Nietzsche
It all starts with a why and a real deep sense of purpose as to who you are and what you are doing. She who discovers this why becomes a great champion and a force to be reckoned with.
It’s not easy to find the why but so what, that doesn’t mean we are not meant to spend our lives and all our efforts trying. It’s as though the creator is asking you deep question with every breath you take. What do you think? How do you like this? And most importantly, where do you see yourself in all of this? What will be your contribution to the tapestry of creation? What will you leave behind that will forever shape the history of everything?
Start with the why and you will bear any how. Viktor E. Frankl was right. Beneath everything that we see and face love and our sense of purpose is what directs us to act or to sit back in anguish. There is no sideline. You are either engaged in life, always striving to get better, and always trying to discover what this and that means, or you are in despair, entertaining yourself as much as you can, until those feelings of nothingness overwhelm you and make you want to cry with exhaustion.
She who has a why to live will bear almost any how and shouldering that how is very important. Knowing how to suffer is not really intuitively easy. Knowing how to bear your suffering and giving it meaning is a lifelong quest. It is a very noble and consuming venture, but its a venture you should not avoid or ignore.
Who are you living for? Notice I said who and not what? So who are you living for? It is very noble to say that you want to help cancer patients, but who? What are their names? There needs to be a real connection between you and that which gives you purpose or else it is not a why but a hap hazard what.
Suffering is unavoidable, but purposeless suffering is unforgivable. Learn your reason why. Discover what you are doing and what you are dreaming about. Fight for that dream. Bear the cost, be it financial, emotional, or simply an incredibly long burden of time.
There is much living left to do, but you should do it with meaning. Doing so will leave you without regret. Doing so will not only change your life, but inspire others to do the same. Doing so will make you fully human and fully alive.
Start discovering and pursuing your happiness by uncovering or peeling of deeper and deeper layers of meaning.
There is a purpose to everything. You were not born to be a wheel, but an open road. You are not means to an end, you are an end in itself. Take great comfort in that. Take great courage in your suffering. Never stop trying to discover who you are, and what you are willing to die for.
