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What do we do when the things we want are impossible for us to attain? What do we do when things become hopeless?In Greek mythology, King Sisyphus found himself in a seemingly hopeless situation. After he upset the gods several times, they condemned him to eternal punishment. They tasked him with rolling a boulder up a mountain, but anytime the boulder gets close to the top of the mountain, it rolls back down, and he has to start all over again. Accomplishing the task is futile. Escaping his punishment is impossible. So it seems that Sisyphus is trapped in a hopeless situation. What can he do to overcome it?When things become hopeless, the wisest thing to do is to let go. And what must Sisyphus let go of? The past. He can’t keep clinging on to his past life, the life he had before he was punished, the life he had as a king, with his wealth, hundreds of servants, and his wife. Because the longer and more tightly he clings to the past, the more unbearable the present moment becomes. He must realize that there is no going backwards. He must accept the present moment and move forward.The present moment is the way it is because it has to be that way. All things happen in accordance with the laws of causality. On planet Earth, if we throw a rock up in the air, it must come back down, and by doing so, it conforms to the laws of cause and effect. And just as it is the rock’s fate to come back down once it is thrown up, it is Sisyphus’ fate to be where he is right now due to his past actions and circumstances in life. Once he sees that where he is is where he must be, where he is meant to be as dictated by universal law, he can let go of the past and accept the present. And once he accepts the present, he can look towards the future.Sisyphus can set himself a new goal that gives meaning to the present moment. For example, maybe he sets the goal of being so muscular when he eventually gets out that his wife will hardly be able to recognize him. And even though he might never get out, he still finds the goal useful to give meaning to his present suffering. He finds the goal useful to give him hope. So he starts tracking the number of times he can lift the boulder up the mountain in a single day. Then he starts tracking the amount of time it takes him to roll the boulder up once. So every day, he increase the number of times and speed with which he lifts the boulder up the mountain, causing him to get stronger and stronger each day. So by letting go of the past, accepting the present moment as fate, and setting a future goal that gives meaning to his present suffering, he regains a new sense of hope and joy.When Albert Camus, a French philosopher, analyzed this myth in his essay “The Myth of Sisyphus,” he concluded: “The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.” Camus came to a similar realization that Sisyphus must accept his fate and set meaningful goals to overcome his punishment.But how does Sisyphus’ story relate to our own lives?At one time or another, all of us will be faced with a situation similar to him. Maybe someone close to us passes away or we unexpectedly lose a limb in a car crash, and we find ourselves clinging to a past that is no longer attainable. And at that moment, we must decide: Do we continue to pursue the unattainable and live in frustration, or do we move on? Do we remain stuck in the past, or will we, like Sisyphus, learn to let go of the past by embracing our current situation as our destiny and setting a new goal that gives meaning to our current suffering. Maybe we take the pain from losing a loved one and use it as fuel to create a future that honors them. Or maybe we take the pain of losing a limb and use it as fuel to become an inspiration to others, to show them that it’s possible to thrive under any circumstance.Pain stops being pain at the moment it becomes fuel for a better future, or as Viktor Frankl, a holocaust survivor, wrote in his book “Man’s Search for Meaning”, “... suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning…”
