Why Deadpool Was Right About His Life Philosophy. Well, Sort of.

Sad as this might be to write, truth is what is valuable at the end of the day.

I was watching my favorite comedy Deadpool on the way home from Philadelphia this weekend. There is a quote by Wade Wilson in the film that I want to share to convey the point I want you to think about.

“See here is the thing. Life is an endless series of train wrecks with only brief commercial like breaks of happiness.”

If you look at all the great people in our history, they all got to their higher level destinations of many reasons, however there is a commonality between all of their journeys.

Let us take Oprah Winfrey for example. Though she grew up in the ghetto, though she was sexual assaulted on numerous occasions, though she saw more violence as a child than most would in a lifetime.

How about Steve Jobs? He got booted from his own company for his wild demeanor. He lost a multi-million-dollar business after growing it from his parent’s garage in California. He took a chance, he created something incredible, and then lost it in the blink of an eye. Even eventually when he got his company back, he got hit with the ultimate stick of truth, cancer.

Logic the musician. His mother was a racist and tried to kill him. His dad was a crack addict who was never there for him. His brothers were selling drugs in his household. He experienced domestic violence. He homeless and kicked out of homes on the regular. And the cherry on top? His wife and him divorced this year.

LeBron James is a good example. He moved from school to school, and from apartment to apartment. He did not have a father growing up, and his mother barely made ends meet financially.

The message Wade was preaching, the commonality between these three individuals, and as a matter of fact all individuals in the world is this.

We all have to accept that to be alive is to suffer.

I tend to be optimistic, but I am not naïve to the fact that all human beings are going to suffer in life. We all are going to experience pain that cuts us deep. Our problems are not special because in reality we all have problems. Some may see them arise in the form of disease, some in the form of heartbreak, some in the physical pain.

You could live a perfect life, not a hint of any pain, sadness, emotional trauma, and at the end of the day you still will suffer. Why? Because we all are going to be six feet under some day. Try as you might to protect yourself from the suffering of being a human, you will never avoid suffering.

What makes the difference between people like LeBron James, Steve Jobs, Wade Wilson, and Oprah. They embrace this suffering. The sooner you start embracing suffering by looking at it as an opportunity to evolve and grow, the sooner you can return to happiness.

Most people play victim to the world and its admittedly unfair ways, and they start to ask why. Why did this happen? Why did things change? Why must I take on the burdens of life?

When you look at suffering with this kind of attitude, you choose not to face suffering at all. When you choose not to face suffering at all, you choose to lose your humanity. When you choose to lose your humanity, you can never be happy to be human, and painful as it is ironically you suffer more. This is that reason why people get to the point that they commit mass shootings and take their own lives. The have given up on humanity, and their humanity, the choose not to suffer. They act as though no one deserves to suffer, and extinguish life because the only moment when you can no longer suffer is death.

If you are like most sane people, you will eventually accept the suffering, it just depends how long. Eventually you will find solace in another period of happiness if you do not give up on yourself. Eventually that too will crumble, but that is life. Things always break down, if not by circumstance, then by death.

So I offer this to you instead. Instead of avoiding your suffering, why not try and limit it. Stop allowing suffering to consume you. Stop asking why. Stop saying that I wish things could be different. Instead, turn the page and accept that you have suffered and start over. If you cannot do this, then you do not believe in trying to find happiness again.

Do what you must to use suffering a tool to build yourself back up. This time a with a little higher standard, a little better, and with a little more optimism.

Do what you need to do to face suffering face to face and act with conviction. Tell suffering that it will not win, that you will find a way to defeat it time and time again, even if that means losing the battle to eventually win the war.

Absolutely believe in happiness, but even happiness comes with suffering. You are always going to have problems. You are always going to see obstacles in your way. To overcome short term suffering is to fight for what you believe is right and who you believe is right and act with conviction. Believe me, facing suffering increments is much easier than dealing with the whole pie at once. Even then, you can overcome an incredible amount of pain if you choose to face it and fight.

Understand this. No matter how bad you want things to be perfect, they never will be. Things eventually crack, but your commercial breaks of happiness in life don’t have to be commercial breaks if you simply act morally and wanting the best for yourself when you are suffering. Start to make the right decisions even if they are uncomfortable. Don’t let suffering win, embrace it, act with conviction in the short term to achieve your long term goals. Stay present within the moment, and understand suffering can be the commercial break if you simply watch and pay attention.

Though it may be sad, you will never be completely happy because we are imperfect and therefore suffer. But as long as you are pretty damn close, you can find a way to make the obstacles smaller and your life a bit better.

I know it sounds dark, but embrace your suffering today.