I agree, pain and misery is no laughing matter, but we cannot escape the fact that we will be touched by the aforementioned one way or the other – so all we can do is to embrace philosophy and prepare for the worst…possibly will soften the blow and keep us serene if nothing else.

“What does not kill me, makes me stronger.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Sounds a lot like Stoicism don’t you think? Old Marcus Aurelius would have looked at life at the same way.

Another facet of the Nietzsche concept that we can use to make us feel better with our lot despite personal hardship, is to learn to suffer in silence and take some consolation from the knowledge that someone elsewhere is suffering even more than us.

It’s also similar to people who complain and are stressed about what life has given to them. How can we stop ourselves complaining? Well, we can start by sparing a thought for the people who are living in constant fear of their lives and are living in much worse conditions than we presently find ourselves in.

It sounds terrible, but having such a thought of another’s misfortune makes us feel better and glad that we are not in that particular person’s shoes and who is suffering hardship of the worst kind, or worst still, dying because of their suffering – this can teach us to appreciate what we have, including our lives.

I guess that’s the main reason people watch and read the news religiously, which is filled with nothing but disaster and horror for other human beings around the globe. I’m sure most of us have uttered the following comments to ourselves after viewing such nightmares; “Poor sod.”, “I thought my life was difficult”, and, “still…better them than me.”