Reaching middle age requires more than just enlightenment. It is an age of responsibility: looking up to aging parents and looking down to growing children. Holding parents in one hand and children in the other; worrying about a parent's illness, feeling angry at a child's disobedience, feeling anxious over work errors, or fretting over financial struggles. Through the vicissitudes of life and many burdens, tell yourself: a happy life is half clarity and half intoxication; divide your heart in two—one half for dealing with reality, and the other for tolerance and understanding.
Money can buy power but not prestige; it can buy obedience but not loyalty; it can buy a shell but not a soul; it can buy the favor of the petty but not the integrity of a gentleman. Do not argue with fate; living in harmony with nature is the way. There is more than one path to success; do not be bound by rigid rules or stubbornness. If one road is blocked, try another.
We have all deeply loved someone. In those moments, we mistook daily companionship for eternity and a fleeting romance for a lifetime, making promises and longing to hold hands and grow old together. However, everything eventually fades. We finally realize that "forever" is elusive and happiness is mysterious and fragile. Perhaps love and happiness are not the same, and perhaps the ultimate happiness of our lives has nothing to do with the one we once loved most. Perhaps one day, we will hold someone else's hand and watch the scenery unfold through the slow, steady flow of time.
Slowly, we realize that everything and everyone eventually becomes the past; there is no need to struggle against it. Some people are destined to leave, leaving only regrets behind. We learn that the most beautiful scenery often passes by the fastest, and the most profound pain belongs to those who have weathered life's storms. We eventually understand that many things can only be experienced once, and that being together every day does not guarantee friendship or even a meaningful connection.
Love is not about life-and-death struggles, but about habit. When a woman grows accustomed to a man's snoring—from initial discomfort to acceptance, to being unable to sleep without it—that is love. When a man grows accustomed to a woman's whims, coquetry, or even irrationality, that is love. When one person is willing to change or accommodate for another, that is love. The more you accommodate your partner, the more you truly love them.
