As we come towards the conclusion of this examination, it is worthwhile to remind the reader that we earlier spoke of the way that literal poop has been viewed as profitable in numerous respects, most notably as agricultural fertilizer, and that poop has shaped world history in surprising and often beneficial ways. How then are we to use the poop in our lives as the fuel for growth and improvement? Some people, try as they might, are simply unable to see the poopiness of existence as something they can feel happy about. But we need not feel happy about things to be able to intelligently respond to the opportunity that the troubles of our existence give us to improve ourselves and our situations. Just as poop serves to fertilize crops and increase the yield of soil, so too the poopiness in our lives can be a fuel to improve our lives. How do we do this?

When we think of the ways that we can use the poop in our lives as a spur for growth, we have to consider what sort of poop we are dealing with. Sometimes problems can serve as a spur for us to deal with negative habits in our lives. We can see a bad health diagnosis as encouragement to eat better and exercise more, for example. We can see a near-death experience or the loss of a job as a way to reflect on how we have been living and change the direction of our lives, perhaps pursuing means of living that are more in line with a reflection that life is short and we should do what we love instead of making ourselves miserable. Even the reminder and approach of our own death and the death of others can be a way to tie up loose ends and seek to end one’s life in a dignified manner that pushes to make a legacy that will endure long after we are gone. Even if we cannot feel good about these things, we can use what happens to us for the best. We can use the injustices we have suffered as a reminder of the pain of injustice and resolve both to seek and yearn for justice as well as to avoid inflicting such injustices upon others.

Above all, no matter what we do with the poop in our lives, we need to approach it with a sense of agency. Often the poop of our lives, at least metaphorical poop, is something that comes from outside. Even if it is the result of what we have done, it seldom comes directly from our behavior but rather serves as either what other people are doing to us or the natural consequences our actions coming from the external world or through the internal world of our body and mind and heart. Whether or not we are responsible for what we are dealing with–and sometimes we are responsible and sometimes we are not–only we can deal with the poopiness of our own existence. The choices we make as to how to respond to what happens to us are our own. No one can make these decisions for us. To be sure, other people can make such choices easier to make. There can be supports provided from the outside that provide encouragement and resources, and we ought to appreciate these when they can be found, but the choices must be made by us, often on a day-to-day, minute-by-minute, situation-by-situation basis. Let us hope that we can choose wisely.