And, yet there is another challenge...

Life is an obstacle course. Life is the 100m dash. It is one gigantic hurdle after gigantic hurdle. It is the ring, the Octagon, the Colosseum. Life is the manifestation of the things we were, the things we are, and the things we strive to be. It is a three-dimensional puzzle made of millions of pieces that intertwine and interact in a million different combinations. It is a complex organism, forever adapting, forever evolving, forever changing. It is difficult. It is full of hardships that must be conquered. It is filled with decisions that have yet to be made and decisions with consequences to be lived with. These decisions can be mundane such as the type of socks you will wear today, or it can be as important as what you decide to do with the time you've been given. These are decisions that can last seconds, hours, months, even years. Making and committing to these decisions can lead to many things: sadness, sorrow, heartache, heartburn, regret, or remorse.

These, however, are not the only consequences, not the only results due to the decisions one can make. Making decisions can also lead to love, happiness, satisfaction, contentment, victory, courage, or gratification. And, these are just the negative and positive outcomes. We are not even speaking of the infinite shades of gray that make up the chiaroscuro of life. The consequences of decisions are as varied as the decisions themselves. They span the spectrum of the rainbow, and they create a beautiful tapestry to be hung upon the wall that others may gawk at it. And, they, in turn, can decide how they perceive your tapestry, leading them to making their very own.

Yet, no matter how beautiful our tapestries turn out to be, there is always another that needs to be finished. There is always another step to climb, another wall to scale, another race to run. No matter how far along we get, or how far ahead we might be, we always end in the beginning, and the entire affair must be done, over and over until exhaustion. Even when we collapse, it is not over; there is never rest for the weary. Exhausted and spent, we continue to tackle the obstacles that appear until we realize that it will never end. Life will always be relentless; it will always be cruel; it will always be infuriating, because that is life. All we can do is learn to live with it, for there will always be another...