Most days, I get to encourage people to make changes in their lives that should lead to a more meaningful and healthy situation.  I spent quite a while building up some knowledge and experience on the topic, so I find it pretty easy to talk about – honestly, I enjoy talking about it.

But it’s pretty hard to live it all the time.  Nearly impossible some days.

I get in disagreements, even arguments, with my wife.

Some days my kids just drive me crazy.  I’m a yeller when that happens.

At times, I want to escape through a drink or two.

I’ll avoid the task at hand by distracting myself with social media.

But eventually, we all come back to it.  We all come back to trying to find meaning in our lives, to improve our situation, and to improve ourselves.  And sometimes when we do that, those poor choices can leave a little bit of guilt.

As Frankl would see it, that’s the definition of the human condition:

“Thus it can be seen that mental health is based on a certain degree of tension, the tension between what one has already achieved and what one still ought to accomplish, or the gap between what one is and what one should become. Such a tension is inherent in the human being and therefore is indispensable to mental well-being.” – Man’s Search for Meaning

We’ve got to go through the bad times to appreciate the good.  We are weak so we can learn to be strong.  We suffer in hopes of discovering meaning.

It’s not easy.  And some days are a whole lot harder than others.  But it’s worth it.  

So embrace that tension – look at where you are now, and where you’ve been, and start designing the plan for where you want to be.