When life gives you lemons but no lemonade

If given the choice to play thumb war and win a burger or to possibly do ten push ups and then win a burger, most of us would choose thumb war. Why? Because it is as simple as it sounds and takes up less energy and time. So, the question eventually pops -- are we slaves to simplicity?

Despite being the safest options to go with, getting used to making and achieving things through simple plans might just become a pitfall for us. Why you ask? Because not everything in life is easy and let's face it, the moment things get tough, we tend to avoid it much more than face it head on.

As bitter a pill as it is to swallow, but life, as we know it, is a series of the toughest and the most incredibly unfair scenarios jumbled into a small timeframe. Within this timeframe, we fail a class, get our hearts broken, lose our loved ones, get fired from our jobs and before we know it, we lose ourselves. Somehow, within all this, life expects us to move on with everything else. Seems pretty unfair right? That's because it is. However, instead of dealing it with patience and perseverance, we deal with our problems with ice-cream and sad songs, which just make us sadder.

The science of simplicity is an interesting concept. Cognitive fluency is basically the concept of taking things more simply in our brain which is a subjective notion of experience of the ease or difficulty of completing a mental task. If a certain thing seems simple to us, it does not mean it necessarily is simple. For instance, for teenagers, it is easy to swipe away through the deeper roots of the internet whereas for adults, it is more difficult to even wrap their heads around the idea of taking a screenshot-- it is simple, but it is not.

However, taking important decisions in life is not as simple, and it is time to understand that life is not as easy as cooking rice (unless cooking rice is tough for you too). We need to understand that nothing comes easy, and it should not be. The world we live in is in constant competition with each other and themselves. Be it losing weight, getting a promotion, trying to finish that one to-do list; nothing comes easy anymore and that is actually fine if you think about it. There are no survival kits unless you make one yourself.

It is incredibly important for you to not give in to your emotion. "I think one of the hardest things I had to deal with was the frustration of not being able to find inner peace which deliberately affected everything around me, including my studies and job. So, I tried to find ways to calm myself rather than being constantly frustrated with myself," says Kazi Nayeer, who finds working out and playing video games a way to vent his pent-up stress.

It is also very important to remember to never ever make excuses for yourself and to not let people make things necessarily more comfortable for you. There is no shame in asking for help, but at the end of the day it is important for you to do your work. Try to learn new things every day, even if it is the smallest of a deed. Travel to places and learn about your environment and blend your spirit with it.

Life will always give you lemons, but you will always know how to make good lemonade out of it once you have your secret recipe.