The more I ponder on this phrase, the more I come up with several meanings to it. I’ve found peace in this phrase and it’s become sort of my go-to chant. 

It’s what I tell myself when I remember how much work I have to get done, how many more hours I have to study, the technical aspects of writing or whenever I need to do something that I don’t want to do but have to. 

I say the phrase, Life is suffering! in my head and it helps me spring back to action. As I write this, I can’t help the smile that forms on my face as if I’m writing a eulogy for a lover. 

The intriguing aspect of the phrase isn’t the life is suffering aspect, which would have made the phrase mundane. 

What excites me is the exclamation point that follows the phrase life is suffering! 

I see it as a recognition of the hard bits of life and the hard things that I don’t feel like doing which would lead me to the results that I want. 

After all, how can you live the life you wish to live if you’ve not experienced the life that you wish not to live? 

How can you be brave if you’ve never felt fear? 

How can you begin to become strong if you weren’t once weak? 

How can you make a good decision if you haven’t made a bad one? 

How can you get to that ‘YES’ if you haven’t heard enough No? 

You need to experience both the bad and good sides of life. If something has a 95% chance of going right which it often will then surely you need to expect a 5% chance of it going wrong which you will surely face. 

Since I’ve come to terms with the phrase, life is suffering! I’ve made my decision to pick my suffering, to choose the path in life that I want to drive down knowing there are bumps along the way. And to do so with a smile because I want to.  

You see doing something you love on a schedule you can’t control can feel the same as doing something you hate. 

Life is suffering! so choose yours.