I’ve always struggled with the concept of the human condition. There’s a part of me that believes it’s impossible to fully grasp what it means, but I’m determined- or maybe just stubborn. As a student therapist in the field of mental health, finishing up my second year and preparing for internships, I think I’ve started to figure it out. If you asked me what it meant, I’d probably answer with an “it depends.” It’s true, though. It depends on how my day is going. It depends on if I got irritated with something my partner did. It depends on if I’ve been watching the news. It depends on my own mental health. My perception changes constantly. But if I were to really sit down and try to explain the human condition to you, it would probably take me a while. It would be a rollercoaster, much like life, and it won’t always be pretty.

From the moment we are born, we are stricken with the human condition. A transparent, nearly invisible hourglass floats above our heads. If you look up long enough, maybe you see a glint of light hitting it just right, and if you look closer you’ll see the sand slowly cascading to the bottom. There are many who, whether intentionally or naively, never glance up. Some days I envy them and their ability to waltz through life with a false sense of immortality. Unfortunately for me, I think it’s too late to turn around now. There are days where my anxiety spikes, and I look inward, confronting my own mortality head on. In that angst, though, I have come to find peace with a promise of an end. It’s beautiful, really. To know that you must die means that you also must live, and to truly live you must remember that you will die. It reminds me of a love story, like the tales of the sun chasing the moon for an eternity. For life and death, a sacred cycle that allows the lovers to kiss only once in a lifetime. One cannot exist without the other. They are forever linked to each other in divine matrimony.

The human condition is mortality, experience, the inevitability of death, life events like becoming a mother or father, emotions, conflict, aspirations, to name a few. We are designed to do more than live. We are designed to experience life, and take in all the good and all the bad, and to feel deeply.

Do not take life for granted.