Life Is Just a Game of Constantly Dodging Bullets
Does anyone else feel this way? I think back and remember how I was fortunate enough to just barely avoid being drafted and sent to Vietnam (low lottery number, but had a student deferment until '74), AIDS (not really sexually active), major diseases (my sister died at 55; my father when he was my current age), etc. So something or someone or some situation is always trying to take you out, and it's a contest to see how long you can survive.
And now we have another crisis upon us that will take out many people.
by Anonymous | reply 6 | March 30, 2020 5:03 PM
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Yes, I have thought about this, many times in my life (not just now). The only solace I have ever gotten is acknowledging and accepting that if something is out of my control, it is out of my control, and worrying, stressing and ruminating about it will not help.
Looking back, I see that catastrophizing has done far more damage to my life than those external circumstances ever had the power to do.
by Anonymous | reply 1 | March 30, 2020 4:17 PM
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It’s why the Buddhist philosophy that “Life is suffering” or “Life is discontent” is so helpful - for me. If we accept that life is constant challenge and change, we can accept it as it is and not feel that this is wrong and should be different. If we have a few moments of blissful happiness in between, we are very lucky.
by Anonymous | reply 2 | March 30, 2020 4:23 PM
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Think of Life as being a series of challenges. Firstly, to survive various hardships; secondly, to do so gracefully and exemplarily, with dignity; and thirdly, to thrive and to help others in similar situations.
by Anonymous | reply 3 | March 30, 2020 4:49 PM
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R3 I love that outlook. Is that something you came up with yourself, or is it part of some larger teaching?
by Anonymous | reply 4 | March 30, 2020 4:52 PM
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“All life is a series of problems which we must try and solve, first one and then the next and then the next, until at last we die.”
by Anonymous | reply 5 | March 30, 2020 4:54 PM
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Thanks, R4. It’s something I learned the hard way, by not doing it. I’m sure someone else came up with something similar before, though. “There’s nothing new, under the sun”, Ecclesiastes 1:9.
by Anonymous | reply 6 | March 30, 2020 5:03 PM
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