I’ve spent my whole life watching people. Friends, strangers, students, CEOs, lovers, neighbours. I watch how they move through the world, how they avoid themselves, how they numb, how they pretend. I watch the cracks where truth slips out.

The older you get, the more obvious it becomes: life doesn’t give a damn about your plans. It laughs at your five-year vision board. It hands you suffering when you were expecting peace, silence when you needed answers, and endings long before you’re ready.

We don’t like talking about this. We hide behind productivity hacks, self-help slogans, or whatever the algorithm is selling us this week. But none of that changes the fact that life is brutal, beautiful, and often unfair. And the sooner you can face it without bullshit, the freer you get.

Here are ten truths you can’t meditate, manifest, or green juice your way out of.

1. You will die.

No exceptions. Billionaires, monks, influencers, your neighbour with the weird lawn gnome collection. Dead. You can meditate, invest, and biohack your ass off, but the finish line is the same for everyone.

2. You have less control than you think.

Free will is real, but it is like a toddler with safety scissors. Limited, messy, and mostly supervised. Biology, culture, and circumstance are pulling more strings than you care to admit.

3. Suffering is guaranteed.

You can avoid gluten, red flags, and your family group chat, but not suffering. Pain is baked into the deal. The only variable is whether you learn from it or just collect trauma like Pokémon cards.

4. Happiness is fleeting.

Joy shows up, takes its shoes off, and then bolts the second you get comfortable. That promotion, new car, or perfect partner? Give it a few months and you will be Googling “why am I still empty?” Hedonic adaptation is a cruel bastard.

5. Other people are too busy thinking about themselves.

You know that embarrassing thing you said at the party? They forgot it before the chips ran out. Everyone else is trapped in their own head, starring in a movie where you barely got a speaking role.

6. You are not as rational as you believe.

Your brain is not a courtroom, it is a PR firm. Logic is the press release, emotions are the CEO. Bias, shortcuts, and self-deception run the show while you tell yourself you are “being objective.”

7. Life is not fair.

Good people get wrecked, assholes get yachts. Effort does not guarantee outcome. Justice is a part-time worker with no benefits. Stop waiting for fairness, it is not coming.

8. You will be forgotten.

Best case? A grandkid keeps your photo on the mantle until they move and toss it. Worst case? You are a blurry face in the background of someone else’s memory. Do not build a legacy for immortality. Build it because it matters now.

9. You can’t escape loneliness.

You can marry, procreate, or surround yourself with friends who “totally get you,” and still feel the existential ache at 3 a.m. The truth? No one will ever fully know you. And maybe that is the price of being alive.

10. Meaning is not given, it is made.

The universe does not care if you start a family or binge Netflix until your organs rot. Purpose is not handed down, it is built. Belief systems, governments, lovers, they can guide you, but they cannot do the construction. That is on you.

10 Simple Pleasures That Make It Worth It

Here is the flip side: the small, almost embarrassing joys that keep us from self-destructing. They do not cancel the darkness, but they soften it. They make the brutal truths survivable.

1. A shared laugh

One dumb joke can snap the weight off your shoulders. Stress hormones drop, connection sparks, and suddenly the day feels less impossible.

2. Warm food when you’re hungry

Forget Michelin stars. A bowl of pasta after a long day hits harder than any $300 tasting menu. Nothing rewires your mood faster than being fed.

3. Music that matches your mood

Whether it is rage, heartbreak, or euphoria, the right track is an IV drip for the soul. Science says it regulates emotion. I say it saves lives.

4. Sunlight on your skin

It is not woo. It is biology. Serotonin spikes, your body clock resets, and for five minutes you remember what it feels like to belong on this planet.

5. Deep sleep after exhaustion

Not the “scroll until 2 a.m.” kind. The collapse-into-bed, body-aching, hard-earned kind. It feels like a restart button for your humanity.

6. A genuine hug

Twenty seconds. That is all it takes to lower blood pressure and remind you you are not as alone as your brain wants you to believe.

7. Finishing something you avoided

Procrastination is self-inflicted torture. Checking it off unleashes a dopamine rush that feels almost illegal.

8. Nature in silence

Ten minutes with trees does more for your sanity than an hour of mindfulness apps. Nature was the original therapist.

9. Being truly understood

It is rare, almost holy. When someone sees you without translation, you remember why human connection is worth chasing at all.

10. Doing something kind in secret

No credit, no audience, no hashtag. Just grace. It fills a part of you that nothing else can touch.

Life is short, cruel, and often ridiculous. You are going to lose, break, ache, and vanish. But you will also laugh until your stomach hurts, feel the sun melt your skin, and know the quiet holiness of being understood. That is the deal. You do not get one without the other. So stop waiting for balance. Live the mess.