Arthur C. Brooks

And every five years or so, this is from the work of Bruce Feiler, life is in the transition.

So you probably know Bruce, right?

He's fantastic.

That you have something that feels pretty catastrophic, as a matter of fact.

So these things are going to happen with relative regularity.

And to say, I am ready for this.

I am courageous about this.

You know, this is something that's going to be really hard for me.

But I know that in 90% of the cases or more, I'm going to come out of it stronger than I was going in.

So let me get a head start on being okay with this.

by actually deciding to have a head start as opposed to listening to the propaganda and sort of the therapy industrial complex out there that says that you're pathological if you're suffering, that you've got something broken if you're suffering.

I mean, it's funny because people my age often think something's wrong with me.

My back hurts.

It's like, you're 61.

Of course your back hurts.

It's the most normal thing.

You know what would be really weird is if your back didn't hurt.

We try to avoid suffering because we have a culture that tells us that all suffering can be avoided.

And, you know, and grandma, you know, grandma knew that suffering couldn't be avoided.

And so she lived with suffering.