This Is a Hard Time to Be Alive

 2 min read

History has never been gentle. But what defines our time is not only suffering — it is exposure. We see everything. We absorb it constantly. And we are given no place to put it down.

The world does not knock anymore. It enters uninvited. Into our homes. Our beds. Our minds.

If you feel worn down in ways you cannot explain, you are not weak.

This is a hard time to be alive.

1. There is no refuge
Bad news follows us everywhere. Even rest is interrupted. Even silence is filled.

2. The mind is never off duty
We are alert when we should be resting, reacting when we should be reflecting.

3. Fear has become background noise
So constant that we barely notice it — yet it shapes everything.

4. We are asked to witness more suffering than we can carry
Endless images of pain, cruelty, and loss — most of it far beyond our reach. This creates a slow, grinding fatigue: compassion without resolution. Caring without closure.

5. Trust is eroding
Institutions, leaders, narratives — all questioned, all unstable. When nothing feels solid, the inner world begins to shake as well.

6. Loneliness has learned to disguise itself
People are surrounded, yet unseen. Communicating constantly, yet rarely understood. The result is a quiet isolation that doesn't announce itself — it just deepens.

7. Many are breaking in silence
Because we have learned to hide exhaustion behind function. We call survival "coping" and collapse "burnout," as if better words might make it smaller.

Hard times do not ask permission. They arrive and demand adaptation.

But there is a danger here.

When everything feels heavy for too long, people either harden or disappear inside themselves. They stop caring — not because they want to, but because caring has become too costly.

This is how societies hollow out.

Staying human now requires effort. Choosing depth over noise is an act of resistance. Protecting the inner life is no longer optional — it is survival.

We may not be living in the worst of times.
But we are living in times that wear people down quietly.

And that may be more dangerous.

Best wishes from Raymond and Ken