The latest book on the shelf: the subtle art of not giving a fuck by Mark Manson.

I devoured the book in 4 days. It feels like a self-manifesto of his values, learnings, and therapy sessions. And I sure needed that.

As if I was reading some of my thoughts, I felt Mark. His talk on what to give a fuck about, I had come to terms on my own, same with how happiness is not avoiding problems, but solving them.

Choosing the quality of the problems in your life dictates the quality of it.

Taking full responsibility for everything that happens in your life, being your fault or not is what gives you freedom. Not choosing what happens to life (out of control) but how you respond to it (in control) is liberating.

We find meaning in suffering, not in avoiding it, and I have been guilty of it. I felt entitled to feel good, to have a better life as if I'm somehow special and deserved everything I want without actually working for it. Such a joke.

Finding one's values and living life through them, and taking responsibility. To commit to something bigger than ourselves and devote our lives to it is how we find meaning.

I'm scared of committing. To a city, to a woman, to a job, to friends. This fear of commitment has gotten worse with time, and now that I'm 27 I don't have anything. I jump around and do not go in-depth about anything, which makes it difficult to find meaning in anything.

The book has made me realise that I need to address my own issues. Happiness finds its way through hardship and meaning, that happiness is an epiphany. We do not realise is there until is gone. The hard times bring the best memories.

Things pay off with time. The perks of a long relationship come after years of tweaking. The rewards of a craft come years after the hardship of getting started.

Karam Zarkitou