The Challenge of Being Human, Part I

Being human is quite challenging – accepting that fact is a key to your pathway to happiness.
“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”– Albert Einstein, Scientist
​
I’m sure you get that it isn’t easy being human. But do you really ever think how truly complex being a human being is? Look at it from the following angle. 

Any of us could spend our entire life studying how the body works such as through Anatomy and Biology, and still have plenty about the body to learn. We could dedicate our entire career with studying how the mind works as through Psychology and still be perplexed with the nuances of human behavior. You and I could be immersed for decades with studying the complex interactions amongst people and still throw our arms up with frustration when we inevitably get disappointed by others. And yet we are made up of all those things, with our success and happiness tied to many factors, often complex. Could there really be any question as to the difficulty of being human?

I point this out because too many of us in the privacy of our skulls despair at what we perceive have come about with our lives. We replay failed opportunities in our minds and become discouraged, with some of us wondering how come “I just can’t get it right.” It becomes easy for us to tag ourselves with the label of “loser.” To further compound that perception, the media we watch and read is flooded with images of seemingly “happy” people, breezing through life with a gleam in their eye, and any problems that might pop up are promised to be solved right after the next commercial break. With much societal focus on “celebrity” status, and within that aforementioned privacy of our minds, in comparison to all we see, it isn’t surprising at all, and rather sad, that so many of us feel rather flat.

But none of us need be stuck with that perspective.

Fortunately, being human, with all its built-in challenges, is also the source of our salvation.  The next post will explore a philosophical and practical approach to that salvation.