Debbie Downer No More?

I'm not gonna lie: Part of my reason for starting this blog is a way to vent, as I've been a bit down lately. I was laid off while simultaneously dealing with some health issues, and as a result, have been forced to put some life plans on the back burner.

Recently I was turned on to the book Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl, a psychologist and one-time prisoner at Auschwitz. I'm only 17 percent through it (insane accuracy courtesy of my Kindle) but I'm constantly coming across passages that resonate for my life as it is now. That's not to trivialize what happened in Auschwitz, or even claim that my life is as bad as a concentration camp. It's not. Not even close. But suffering is something a lot of us can relate to, and Frankl believes -- and is a good example of -- how we give our suffering meaning by the way we react to it.

Howard S. Kushner points out in the forward how Frankl saw three possible sources for meaning: in work (doing something significant), in love (caring for another person), and in courage during difficult times.

When I first read that passage, I thought you choose one and hone in on it in order to find meaning in your life. Easy-peasy. But the more I thought about it, I realized I have all three of things in my life right now, and they are all complicatedly intertwined. And so, much like a bag of Lay's potato chips, it is near impossible to choose just one and be satisfied.

Still, I'm trying to remain optimistic (despite a tenancy toward Debbie Downer Syndrome) and follow Frankl's advice to, well -- just not think about it. He writes:  

For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one's dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: You have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long run -- in the long run, I say! -- success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think of it. 

So while this blog may seem the antithesis to all that, this is me, not caring. We'll see how it goes.

I wonder: How do you find courage during difficult times? 

Photo: Notes From a Scattered Mind