At the moment, very many challenges surround me. All the challenges are different; some challenges I have had for years, other challenges come and go. A challenge I have had for years is my shyness. I have never really liked to meet new people and talk with them, but I am getting better at it. I have so many challenges; I can’t do everything at once. So I put my shyness in the back of my mind when facing a new challenge.

Right now I’m facing a challenge. To write this story is a challenge, although not a big one. In fact, the challenge of writing this story is ridiculously small, compared to other things. It is bigger than some of the daily challenges, but it is nothing compared to the challenges of life.

The challenges of life; the things we try to do throughout life. Earning people’s respect, making dear ones proud of you, fitting in…It is all part of life. And I have often wondered about these challenges. Why do we care so much about the challenges? Had it not been simpler to just do what we feel like doing? I wonder if it really is that important, if I am the only one who thinks about it.

One of the biggest challenges I think about is figuring out who I want to be. My father told me that I should not try to be like someone, I should simply be myself. I think that was a good advice, but I’m having a hard time following it. Sometimes, I don’t know what I want, what I should say, how I should act… I had a habit of saying “I don’t know” to everything I was asked that required my opinion. I got rid of the habit by saying the first thing that comes to mind, but I have learned that doesn’t work so well. It just makes me sound really stupid.

When I think about all these challenges, it leads me to a new question. What is the purpose of facing all these challenges? Will it matter in the end? I haven’t found the answer yet. Finding the answer to that is also one of my biggest challenges, though I doubt I ever will succeed. The philosophers of ancient Greek thought about that too. Even though they certainly faced different challenges, they too thought about what the meaning of life was. I have had some crazy theories that I couldn’t even believe myself. One of them was that aliens had created us for fun, or as an experiment to see how we would evolve. My mom had a good laugh at that.

In the end I decided that I would do what I feel like, as long as it doesn’t make others angry or sad. That too is a challenge to do. It became one of my daily challenges. Everyday I will try to remember to be nice too the people around me and at the same time do things I like. Sometimes it is hard. Sometimes I have to remind myself why I should be nice. Everyone can fail at their challenges sometimes; it’s one of the things about us humans we must come to accept. If we fail, we just have to try again.

All of these things are just part of how life is. That’s why I have concluded; life is a challenge in itself, simply as that. It is the challenge.