Alan Noble

is difficult, and we experience that difficulty in different ways and to varying extents,
but we always experience it in our hearts and minds.

Mental suffering takes many forms, only some of which have roots in disease.

If you take away one truth, the one thing in this book I know with certainty, let it be this: your life is a good gift from a loving God, even when subjectively it doesn’t feel good or like a gift, and even when you doubt that God is loving. Please get out of bed anyway.

What’s the bravest thing you ever did? . . .

Getting up this morning.

C ORMAC M CC ARTHY, THE ROAD

I didn’t believe that I was owed this normal life. But my sense of the world and of Christianity was that if I put in the work and honored God with my time, none of these good things were out of reach. They were normal, reasonable expectations. It wasn’t like I had grandiose visions of fame or riches. I just expected things to be nice if I took care of my business. And so I did.

The few people I met who had difficult lives seemed to choose their suffering. I could trace their problems back to a flaw in their character or intelligence. They also tended not
to be Christians, or at least not good Christians. From what I could see, they had decided to be miserable or depressed or a failure or whatever. And I would think, You know, if they just made better choices, if they were just disciplined and stopped making excuses, they wouldn’t have to suffer this way.

It’s easy to think like Job’s friends.

There’s a kind of unspoken conspiracy to ignore how difficult life is, or to reframe it as something romantic—a heroic challenge we overcome on our way to the good life. In this conspiracy we each try to hide our scars, even from those closest to us and sometimes even from ourselves. Almost every cultural institution, church, government, or corporation promises you a good life if you just do what they ask. Make the right life choices. Marry the right person. Go to the right church. Get the right education. Work the right job. Buy the right products. And you’ll be fine.

Whatever challenges we face can be solved. That’s society’s promise. Whatever problem you have, someone has developed a method for overcoming it. A pill. A treatment. A mindset. Which means that if you don’t overcome your problems, it’s your own fault. You really should have tried harder. You should have shown more initiative. You should have chosen the right technique. Because the normal life is a pleasant life for those who merit it.

They can’t get out of bed because once they step foot on the floor, they will be launched into a day that is uncertain and lifeless and in some ways impossible.