I’m tired, both physically and mentally. I’m tired of being human, I realized this the other day. I was trimming my nose hairs and starting to wonder, why am I doing this? Why do we even have nose hairs? This is such a waste of time! That started my thinking, it’s not even nose hair, it’s everything! Not only is it a challenge just to obtain social acceptance and live amongst the other humans trying to achieve some sort of harmony in the world, just being human is a challenge in and of itself.

Think about it, what if you were never tired again? We all sleep 6-9 hours every single night. Think of all the work you could get done, all the chores you could finish, all the books you could read, and all the friends you could catch up with. What about that tired feeling when we first wake up, in the late afternoon, and before we go to bed? The agony of wanting nothing more than to crawl into bed and take a nap. If that by itself went away, I think I’d be a completely different person.

And while we’re at it, there’s a laundry list of things that I could do without. Sneezing, ears popping, all the aches and pains in your neck, back and feet that happen for some reason. What about itches, sleep in your eyes, and burping? Let us not forget all the work involved in clipping finger and toe nails, shaving and brushing your teeth. Some could argue that those last three don’t actually need to be done, and I agree, but do you think you’d be accepted very well into our society if you didn’t do those three?

There is however one thing that tops all others when it comes to being human, and that is eating. The one thing that we absolutely have to do three or more times a day, or if you’re a snack type person you literally have to eat all day. Think of all the time you spend thinking about food, what food you need to buy at the store, storing the food, preparing the food and then finally eating the food? Now I like the taste of good food as much as the next person, but it would be such a small trade off in the end. Not only do you have to do all the things listed previously, but all the work that comes after. Not only am I talking about doing the dishes, but I’m talking about digesting food, taking Tums when you’ve eaten too much of the wrong type of food, and then using the restroom when your body is done with it. This process is absolutely disgusting.

Now of course, some can and will make the argument that being human isn’t about these things I’ve listed, and you’re probably right. Being human is about enjoying life, having fun and enjoying the little things. It’s about making friends and enemies too. It’s about falling in love, getting dumped and falling in love again. It’s a vicious cycle that being human allows us to experience. I do wish however, that there was some way to only live out the good aspects of being human and try to get rid of some of the bad, but then we’d no longer be what they call “human”.