4 Critical Life Lessons From A Concentration Camp Survivor
What do you do when you feel like sh*t?
You read about people who felt even worse. Not to feel pity but to learn how to survive. That’s what I did back when I felt lost in life.
I read “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor E. Frankl.
And it was a true game-changer. Because once you realize someone can survive four concentration camps to come out as a better person believing in humanity, you know you can do better in your own life, too.
Here are 4 critical life lessons from Viktor E. Frankl, a concentration camp survivor.
#1 The power of choice
You choose how you react.
No one’s hardwired to react a certain way because they simply have to. Instead, it’s up to you how you respond to the world.
That’s what I did wrong.
In the past, I’d often be the victim, blaming others, the environment, my DNA, or whatever it might be for my reaction. Especially when I behaved in a questionable or straight-out wrong manner.
However, Viktor E. Frankl is convinced everybody has a choice.
Even facing the very worst human beings can do to each other, he said it’s up to him how to react to it. Of course, this didn’t mean he supported the Nazis.
But it meant he kept the power of how he felt.
That’s more important (and exhausting) than you think.
Because once you realize it’s up to you to take responsibility, there’s nothing to hide behind. No friends, parents, or society, but only you and your ego.
You have to take responsibility for how you react.
That’s exhausting because it means you know you have to be spot on. But it’s also empowering because you realize nobody can force you to react a certain way.
Simply put: it’s in your power to tackle a problem or crawl under a stone and insult everybody coming across your way.
#2 Finding meaning in life
We shouldn’t ask what we expect from life but what life expects from us.
Seems strange, right? It’s our lives; why shouldn’t we want to control it?
Because control is an illusion.
This is borderline Stoicism because there is a similar principle called Amor Fati.
Love of fate.
No matter what might happen to you, you appreciate it as a necessary part of your way. Or:
You’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.
Again, this is both exhausting and freeing. Exhausting because you realize you might be the great captain of your ship called life but can only control so much.
Freeing because you realize that as the captain who’s supposed to steer the ship, you have the power to laugh through every storm.
I could write for three years on Medium and never become as successful as known writers. I could study law, get incredible grades, and discover baking is my passion. Or I could want a tech career, learn programming, get hired for my dream job, buy a house, and get laid off, being in debt.
We never know.
Now, you might ask, what’s worth the effort anyway?
There are three answers to that:
- Having fun Writing is fun. Why shouldn’t we pursue something fun?
- Helping others Helping others and being social is part of our DNA. They are essential to feel belonging.
- Improving yourself Yes, maybe my writing won’t pay my bills in five years. But through my writing, I’ll improve myself. I learn how to articulate my ideas, think without borders, and overcome my fear of putting myself out there. This in itself is huge.
Life always has a meaning. No matter if it seems like it doesn’t or you have yet to realize it.
#3 The importance of hope
It’s cliche, I know.
But hope is everything.
If you don’t hope for any improvement, what are you living for?
Our parents had the hope of better lives for us.
That’s why they put up with stinky pampers, sleepless nights, and picking us up from a party where we weren’t supposed to be (and drank).
Viktor E. Frankl had hope for a life after the Nazi horrors.
He didn’t hope to become a bestseller author. He hoped for the bare minimum every human being should expect: staying alive.
This is a better kind of hope than most people have.
Most people hope for a sportscar, a mansion, and a trophy wife/hubby.
That’s not really hope; that’s greed.
Hope is improving other people’s lives. It’s providing a service to the community. It’s getting your basic needs of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs fulfilled.
Why?
Because in the darkest times, hope is everything we have.
#4 Embracing suffering
That’s the first noble truth of Buddhism. And it held true over thousands of years.
Viktor E. Frankl didn’t like suffering in a fetishistic kind of way.
But he realized suffering is the only way to grow.
Why?
Because we grow with problems. We grow when there’s a heavy storm we have to steer our ship through.
It’s the only way.
Suffering shapes our characters and creates a base for personal growth. Suffering is the volcano ashes on our seeds of self-improvement. It boosts their growth exponentially.
I wouldn’t be sitting here, writing today, if I haven’t:
- double-fractured my foot by kicking a goal post
- quit twice on Medium before
- felt lost in life multiple times
- experienced multiple heartbreaks
- quit two mind-numbing corporate careers
- was bullied for my body
Of course, this is no comparison to the Nazi horrors Frankl experienced. Yet, it made me stronger. It made me who I am today.
Suffering is the only way forward.
Viktor E. Frankl was a remarkable man and one of the very few who went into a concentration camp, survived, and came out as a better human being. You can become a better human being, too, if you realize:
- you have the power of choice
- life always has a meaning
- hope is everything we have
- life is suffering, and suffering is the only way to grow
Thanks for reading.
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