Chapter One: The familiar stranger_1

One of the most puzzling things in this world is that even happiness and joy must adhere to the principle of equivalent exchange.

True happiness always comes at a cost, just as true success carries the weight of the past, and real happiness hides sorrow that is difficult to express in its shadows.

We sing in drunken delight, and then we wake up with headaches, bitterness, and fatigue; we enjoy delicacies, and then grit our teeth to exercise and burn off the excess fat; we watch clowns perform slapstick comedies, only to endure the endless emptiness aftermath the laughter.

Every positive moment is always accompanied by a negative energy of proportionate magnitude.

Without difficulties, failures, pain, and sadness, one can never truly understand success, joy, or happiness.

In the end, we find that the amount of happiness and joy we can feel depends on how much suffering and sadness we can bear—not how much suffering the world offers us.

It's a difficult choice.