There is no easy way to success. Those who achieve great milestones always strive harder than the others. The purpose and goals of life are not always easily attained and different people have to go through different hurdles to reach them. These hurdles test the temperament of the people; challenge them in various ways and in certain cases sink them in despair. Only after going through the see of hurdles and despair, they can reach on the other side – the side where their dreams are waiting for them.
In certain cases, it is easier to flow with the flow of time and let things come instead of reaching to them. However, living a life that has been decided for us by our socio-economic circumstances does not really mean that we are living our lives with complete responsibility. In that case we are just puppets, dancing with the strings that are being moved by the society. In order to live a true and productive life, it is important that we should create such a life.
Creating a life means finding the true purpose of the existence and then following the same through our actions. Creating such a life is not a piece of cake; rather it requires great energy and enthusiasm. It requires a complete transformation.
The transformation can start from negating what is already taught to human beings by his surroundings. He requires to un-condition himself. The conditioning that is carried out by the society may not always be favorable for a person, and most importantly that conditioning is as per the thinking and the perspectives of others. Every person needs to discover himself. He has to decide his life according to his own comprehension of his self.
During this transformation, he may feel despair; and may experience nothingness. The world may look meaningless and purposeless. The roads may look dusty and leading to nowhere. The trees may look autumn-stricken and the water may be flowing in a directionless directions. The relations may seem absurd and the friends may appear to be strangers. However, the important thing is not to get stuck in this despair as the life is on the other side of despair. It is not within it. This despair may prove to be a necessary evil. It may provide an opportunity to a person to rethink about his life, to rewrite its script and to rebuild his personality.
Gold becomes gold after many years of suffering. It has to bear the extreme temperature and great pressure. It has to go through various processes to sparkle as it does. A seed becomes a tree after going through a long and tiresome process. It has to bear the different sorts of weather and have to extract its nutrition from the earth. Only after surviving through every thick and thin it is able to stand strong as a tree and grow flowers and fruits.
History proves that the same is true for human beings as well. The personalities that have gone through very critical circumstances have been able to stand taller as human beings.
Every human being has to go through the experience of despair if he has to discover his true self.
Though it may always be more convenient to live on the creativities of others, to reach for the ideas that are already developed and to strive for the targets that are already set. However, borrowed ideologies, borrowed destinations and borrowed motives can never work for an individual. Every individual is unique in what he really is. Finding that unique self will require going through the quagmire of despair, yet the great revelations are waiting on the other side. Though going through this quagmire is necessary, sticking to it is not recommended. Getting stuck in the quagmire means pitiful death. It means a useless and wasted life. The quagmire should be considered as a necessary passage to the real destination on the other side of it.
Today’s world wherein most of the people are lost in hustle and bustle and in pursuit of the materialistic gains, this is a crying need that the human beings must discover true human gifted with perfect realization of the responsibilities and understanding of the human existence. He must suffer and despair, but has to take a rebirth. He has to be born as a different human being after what he goes through. This is the only way human beings can change the world around themselves; no other way is possible today.  
Therefore, it is imperative that people should not get disappointments when they face difficulties, when they see the road blocked ahead of them and when there seems to be no encouragement and appreciation. Particularly, people living in Afghanistan, in the current circumstance, where they find difficulties, hardships and disappointments, must always live with the optimism that there is a better ending to all these problems. As Sartre had quoted, “There is life on the other side of despair.”