Which Do You Think Is Harder to Deal With: Physical Health Problems or Mental Health Problems?
Our body is naturally adapted to endure physical suffering. It can withstand pain, torture, even extreme conditions like solitary confinement, and still recover. But mental suffering — stress, despair, a lack of purpose — can break a person entirely. The reason is because our body is built to handle physical hardship, but it is not equipped to bear existential suffering.
Why? It is because mental suffering touches something beyond the body. It disrupts a higher function within us, something above our natural physical life. We can live with a perfectly healthy body, but if the mind or the inner sense of purpose collapses, life itself can seem unbearable. This is why people throughout history have endured unimaginable physical hardships — wars, prisons, forced labor — yet survived. But the moment they lose their inner sense of meaning, everything falls apart.
The key to resilience through mental hardships is in having a goal, something higher than suffering itself. If a person can hold on to a purpose beyond their limitations, they can endure anything.
When you grasp this higher force, i.e., when you connect to the meaning of life beyond the physical level of existence, you empower the body to continue. The problem in today’s world is that people no longer see a clear goal ahead. They are disconnected from life’s meaning and purpose. But even simple goals such as caring for animals, tending to gardens, or maintaining daily tasks, can sustain many people.
Look at centenarians who live in remote villages, in the mountains, far from hospitals or modern healthcare. They wake up every morning with something to do. They feed their sheep, work their land, and engage with nature. This simple connection to life itself keeps them going. They do not dwell on suffering because they have something greater to hold on to.
In the end, it is not the body that determines how long we live but our connection to purpose. If we wake up knowing there is something we must do, we endure. If we lose sight of such purpose, then even perfect health cannot sustain us.