Difficult Living

"Enjoying life is difficult" -Dave Strobolakos


Immediate, hedonistic gratification proves frightfully achievable. Some people drink, some people follow lots of rules, some people have sex, some people pretend to like everyone they know. Immediate pleasure often drives each of these actions. Such individuals dismiss or ignore the long-term effects of living to experience emotional happiness in each successive moment.

Passive, disengaged voyeurism impinges on our ability to experience creation. Television, facebook, videogames, and reading function as means of escapism through we we avoid the world in which we find ourselves. We simultaneously fend off deep relationships to avoid work and pain while religiously devoting ourselves to fictional dramas provided by American media.

Subtle, erosive addictions deplete our capacity to interact relationally. Although drugs, alcohol and smoke could be such addictions, other, less often recognized social barriers prevail in our society. Work takes precedence over family life. Raising children results in a competition to produce the more intelligent scholars, fitter athletes, more gifted musicians than our neighbors.

Unfortunately, each of these responses to life unfold more naturally than conscious, determined, intentional living. Loving your family well requires intense labor. Freeing yourself from the slavery of our entertainment culture takes discipline and foresight. Maintaining a healthy balance between each facet of daily living demands temperance and adaptation. However, humans find fulfillment through this difficult struggle and ultimately, this fulfillment makes life enjoyable. In short-enjoying life is difficult.