Asking — and answering — life's interesting questions
There are a lot of problems and difficulties right now, from increasing impacts from climate change to political unrest to concern about the future of artificial intelligence.
We care about our readers, so we just want to check in with you: How are you doing?
Related questions: How are we doing? What is the greatest problem facing humanity? How do you maintain hope?
People across the world find value in meditation. Are you one of them? If you meditate, what do you get out of it?
Share why if you wish.
Imagine this: your life is busy, but under control. Something happens, though, and everything spirals until you’ve come undone. One event, one that you could have otherwise handled easily, makes everything fall apart. What causes that?
For the most part, human beings are pretty adaptable. As long as the change is not too sudden, we can absorb remarkable changes in our environment.
Take the news, for instance. As recently as a few decades ago, we got our news from newspapers once a day, and a half hour of national news and an additional half hour for local news on TV. That was it!
Now, there are multiple 24-hour news stations, and tuning in to one provides an incredible amount of information all at once. An on-screen anchor is delivering an opinion, or conducting an interview. Chyrons appear regularly to recap what is being discussed. A ticker of other headlines runs across the bottom of the screen. There might also be weather alerts, sports scores, stock market updates, or additional information flashing somewhere on the screen.
It’s a lot to take in, but we do it fairly easily. Our focus can’t be everywhere all at once, but we figure out what is most important to us, and jump around as necessary.
However adaptable we are, there are limits. We can be overwhelmed, with our ability to switch from topic to topic swamped with information. And once we reach that saturation limit, it feels like everything comes undone and we can’t do anything. All but the most simple tasks escape us.
Are there triggers of this type for you? Sometimes it is just a matter of one random thing being one too many. But there might also be a recognizable action that causes you to struggle. Can you think of what yours might be?
Related questions: What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Is our attention fractured? Are we too busy? How do you find peace when you need it?
Regardless of your lot in life, you will have to deal with suffering at some point, either your own or someone else’s. How will you handle it?
There are many different ways to go through difficult times. “Suffering” can be defined in many different ways.
One common type is to go through an emotional grieving process at the loss of a family member or other loved one. Because everyone dies eventually, we will all need to handle grief and the wave of emotions that can come with it several times over throughout the course of an average lifespan.
Similarly, the longer you live, the more likely you will have some sort of health problem. These can run the gamut from minor but intense to long-term, chronic issues.
There is yet another wrinkle thrown in when you have to deal not with your own, but the suffering of someone close to you. Even if you don’t experience the pain directly, either physical or emotional, watching a loved one go through it and being unable to do anything to ease that pain can be very difficult.
So how do you deal with it? Chances are, you have had the experience a number of times already, and will have many more in the future. So how did you handle it in the past, and how will you approach future events? Do you keep things bottled up, or share with others? Are you more likely to experience anger, grim resignation, or black humor? How do you deal with suffering?
Related questions: What is the worst pain you’ve ever experienced? What is the right amount of emotion? How do you deal with loss? What can you learn from loss? What are our responsibilities to others?
Despite an unprecedented ability to connect, more people than ever are reporting feelings of loneliness. How do you combat feeling alone?
With the internet, and specifically with social media apps, in theory we are the most connected generation in human history. We have the ability to reengage with old friends on Facebook, perform career networking on LinkedIn, find groups of like-minded people on MeetUp, purchase homemade crafts from artisans on Etsy, and so on.
Celebrities or popular influencers might have millions of followers. Even non-celebrities can be connected to hundreds, thousands, or even more people.
Of course, the quality or strength of those connections can vary drastically. It is not humanly possible to interact in any meaningful way with that many people. As a result, the communication is superficial at best, and might be in one direction only.
In addition, people naturally curate their online life, and most only share the highlights. Smiling pictures while on a vacation in an exotic location. Happy news of a promotion at work. An engagement announcement. A new car, or house, or baby. Photos or videos are from flattering angles, with good lighting.
By contrast, the viewer gets the news while in the same job, living in the same house, in a seemingly unchanging life. It is only natural to feel that others are having success and doing well, while you are being left behind, alone and isolated.
So how do you fight against that? When you feel left out, what do you do?What reminders are there of your friends and loved ones? What sorts of events, virtual or in-person, help you build fulfilling, meaningful connections with other people?
Related questions: Do you feel lonely? How do you make friends as an adult? What are you doing to build community? How do you choose a hobby?