Sisyphus, And The Myth Of Continuously Embracing Our Sadness

God, doesn't life sound like an absolute pain?

It does, doesn't it? It sometimes feels like we're pushing a large boulder up a gigantic mountain. A neverending cycle, almost mythlike- except it's an actual figure of speech.

Meet Sisyphus. The guy that has to do this everyday, for the rest of eternity.

Camus myth regarding Sisyphus is that of a trickster king forced into the seeminglessly pointless servitude of pushing a rock to a tip of the mountain- only for it to roll back down. At first glance, this myth is one of futility and despair, a metaphor for the absurdity of human existence. But Camus urges us to imagine Sisyphus happy, despite the endless repetition and struggle. Why would he want us to do that?

For Camus, life itself can feel much like Sisyphus’s task—filled with repetitive struggles, challenges, and moments of profound absurdity. We often search for meaning in a world that doesn’t provide any inherent answers- if it does not intend to crush us in its grasp first. Yet, instead of sinking into despair, Camus embraces it, and tells us to embrace the 'suckiness' of the situation- no matter how bad it is.

It's hard to imagine so. But why accept the struggle?

The core of Camus’s message is about rebellion. Rather than submitting to the absurdity and feeling crushed by its weight, Sisyphus’s defiance in continuing to push the boulder becomes an act of rebellion against meaninglessness. He doesn’t surrender to despair, nor does he seek solace in illusions of hope. Instead, he persists—and in that persistence, he creates his own meaning. This relentless spirit is, for Camus, what makes Sisyphus a symbol of human resilience.

Camus also challenges our conventional view of what we 'think' happiness is. He argues that happiness doesn’t necessarily come from achieving goals or reaching the summit, but rather from the act of striving itself. Sisyphus, aware of the futility of his task, might find joy in the effort, the movement, and the simple act of living. Sisyphus' happiness isn’t dependent on the end result but is found in the very process of the rock falling, and to push it back up again. It's absurd.

But what other option do we have? Is it not better to imagine Sisyphus- no, us, as happy?