Humans have two instincts: the instinct to live and the instinct to die.

The former corresponds to existence, while the latter corresponds to self-destruction. Living is striving; dying is lying flat.
These two impulses coexist: life means "I can change everything," representing flow and creation; death means "I am powerless to change everything," representing stagnation and decay.
Life is tired, angry, powerful; death is comfortable, peaceful, liberating.
The cost of life is burning out; the cost of death is falling apart. People need success to reinforce the instinct to live, otherwise the will to die will take over. When learned helplessness forms, the instinct to die becomes strongest.
I clearly feel these two instincts deeply in my own growth experience.
When the instinct to live collapses under extreme pressure, the instinct to die takes over, suppressing vitality and leading to despair. As a result, one must crave external validation and support, and continue to try with faint life force.
Thus, pain and perseverance, along with help from others, enable one to emerge and also to hold an umbrella for others in the rain. How difficult it is—without a strong will to live, how can one overcome the spirit of death?
Many people's psychological issues, or the "lying flat" mentality of contemporary youth, stem from structural disempowerment and learned helplessness in their growth experiences.
Watching the documentary about Sanhe Da Shen, I always feel like this could be my life at any moment. Daily earnings, lying flat, wandering the world. Many young people in Dali hostels and shared apartments, I see self-rationalization in them.
The essence of life is a kind of anger; anger is the courage to seek change. Only through anger do we feel alive again and understand the power of life. Basic anger is directed at specific people, customer service, delivery workers, friends, partners; intermediate anger targets abstract entities, patriarchy, politics, society; advanced anger is directed at fate itself, reclaiming control from the hands of impermanence.
Many people's anger has been dulled, leading to spiritual impotence, like a cow struck with a hammer. Yet it is precisely this endless anger that drives people to grow, to change, and to seek a way out of despair.
May we always have the strength to live; may the tranquility of death also become part of happiness.