Boundaries create contrasts
My favorite quote is one by Karl Ove Knausgård:
Grenser skaper forskjeller.
Forskjeller skaper betydning.
Det er derfor menneskets urangst er for det forskjellsløse.
I det blir mennesket utslettet.
Roughly translated to English:
Boundaries create contrasts.
Contrasts create meaning.
That's why human's primal fear is of the indistinguishable.
In that, the human is obliterated.
It sounds like a poem, and I’ve learned it by heart. Actually, it’s just four sentences from Knausgård’s impressive 3.640 pages long self-biographical novel series My Struggle [Min Kamp].
It means that you need rainy days to enjoy the sunny ones. You need weekdays to enjoy weekends. You need to feel lost to feel on track. You need to put in the effort to enjoy success. You need to know the taste of cold coffee to enjoy the freshly brewed one. You need bad relationships to identify good ones. And you need (surprisingly) many French classes to learn French.
I try to think of the quote when I’m in a situation I don’t like. It doesn’t necessarily make the situation less shitty, but it makes it more bearable.