Philosophical Perspectives On Struggle

Everyone reaches their limit at some point,
And when that happens, shutting down is the right thing to do,
You can never feel bad or guilty for that;

When it’s either that or killing yourself,
You have nothing to lose;

It’s at that point that you put your community and supportive relationships and whatever safety net welfare system that exists to the test;

Identify the people whom can see the inevitable coming and care about it before it happens,
As others will only suddenly ‘care’ once it’s too late (even family members);
—If you haven’t experienced this, it will seem impossible to believe but it’s true;

All of this will make extremely apparent any weakness and lacking in your relationships, community and welfare system (if it exists);

Some places have better family relationships (on average) than others,
Some have stronger community than others,
Some have better welfare systems than others;

Be wary of automatically assuming you have it better because your country has a welfare system or a strong economy—
The tendency is for these societies to tend towards insularism with everyone living in their own bubble;
It’s extremely possible to spiral downwards in ‘full view’ with everybody too busy with working and with their ‘own lives’;
Even when facing homelessness, existing friends and family members can find reasons not to be able to help you out;
The need for (and lack of) community is only realised once it’s too late;

As a counter to inevitable feelings of hopelessness—
Let the anger and indignity and awareness of it motivate you to inform others
And to stimulate philosophical thought and ideas for how to get politically involved to help improve the situation;

Out of periods of stress and suffering can come new and fulfilling purpose, with time;
And of course, unimaginable strength and transcendence from everyday worries.

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My philosophical and fatalistic part of me considers that a society and life which is incompatible with your periods of struggle and is unable to help you out of it, is by definition not worth living in. This is quite absolutist and perhaps a pessimistic viewpoint. It’s a philosophical perspective which although comes from anger and indignation, allows me to remain optimistic and motivated, but perhaps I just don’t have that strong a sense of self-preservation. On the flipside I do have a dark sense of humour. I consider that we are nothing without community.

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