Songs of Challenge

The other day I was listening to an interview with Mauricio Wiesenthal on Kapital. If you’ve never listened to Mauricio, you need to. At 80 years old, he is more alive than many people at 30. He’s a lover of life, the kind I admire.

In the podcast, he talked about how if humans have gotten to where we are today, it’s for one reason: responding to the challenges that life has put before us.

In ancient Mesopotamia, hydraulic engineering began. The canals, reservoirs, and waterwheels were some of the inventions that emerged during that time. But what’s not often mentioned is that all these new constructions were a response to the constant flooding that their citizens suffered.

One cannot be conceived without the other. Because everything is born out of a problem.

Therefore, we can see problems more as a virtue than something bad. And I understand that no one wants certain problems like going through cancer or becoming completely bankrupt.

But the complete absence of problems is something many people aspire to, which would put us in too great a state of comfort to bear. Because our genes are not prepared for it.

We need problems to feel alive. Problems that don’t overwhelm us but that challenge us. That’s why, despite living in one of the most comfortable periods in history, we continue to seek them wherever they may be.

No matter how trivial they are.

Because no one wants to live without something to solve. It would make us feel small and useless.

And this can be observed in elderly people. Those who live the longest are the ones who wake up with a daily purpose. Whether it’s tending their garden or cooking for their children and grandchildren. The reason doesn’t matter.

Because seeking an answer to that daily challenge is what makes us feel alive. So keep seeking problems, keep facing challenges. Never stop.