Lesson 1: Before you judge the world, take responsibility for your own life.

Life isn’t fair. We all learn that one way or other. Some of us sooner, some later, some in small ways, some from terrifying blows. But we all realize it eventually. Like the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy , who, in his short, philosophical piece, A Confession , concluded there are only four reasonable responses to the absurdity of life:

1. Ignorance, like a child refusing to accept reality.
2. Pleasure, like an addict on the hedonic treadmill .
3. Suicide.
4. Holding on, despite everything.