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Seriously what is the point of being alive? What motivates you/keeps you going?
Originally for me it was my career, my career = ME but i've come to find out that my career does not even come close to defining who I am as a person or my psyche. Now I am kind of at a loss as to how to find out what keeps me going/motivated.
I just don't know any more, is it having my own family one day, people that care about me or friends?
There is a very fine line between being happy and being not happy and we have to keep things in our lives that keep us on the happy side of the fence.
The lowest point I ever had in my entire life was when I went through my divorce, I became someone I didn't recognize, and was very depressed. One day I was coming home from work, feeling very low, and I stopped at a red light. There, crossing the street in front of me were two men in motorized wheelchairs, the kind that paralyzed people use. They were coming back from the grocery store with bags on the back. Even with their disabilities they were still going on with their lives and making the best of them........not feeling sorry for themselves like I was. It wasn't that I felt sorry for them either, I just had so much respect for them and their strength.
It hit me that my troubles were minor compared to a lot of other people's problems, and I bet there were a lot of people who would trade me problems in a heartbeat. It gave me enough of a kick in reality to stop feeling sorry for myself and start being myself again. Sometimes that is what it takes.
There is a very fine line between being happy and being not happy and we have to keep things in our lives that keep us on the happy side of the fence.
Without that fine line, no one would be able to appreciate either side. Happiness without sadness would become meaningless in a sense. I think the key is in being able to recognise that you have been in either state before and how it felt when it went from one side to the other. Happiness or sadness is never constant, only the line of constant change between both is.
Seriously what is the point of being alive? What motivates you/keeps you going?
Originally for me it was my career, my career = ME but i've come to find out that my career does not even come close to defining who I am as a person or my psyche. Now I am kind of at a loss as to how to find out what keeps me going/motivated.
I just don't know any more, is it having my own family one day, people that care about me or friends?
To be honest, to see what tomorrow brings. I don't look forward to any one thing but I know that if I weren't here I might miss something I'd enjoy.
The question to me is why would anyone want to die unless really sick and in pain. Makes no sense at all to me as I love life but do not fear death being a Christian.it reminds me of when I was in military in mid 60's :I couldn't wait to get back to US; family and life.
No matter what they are, you need them... and they need to be positive ones.
I used to not really know what I was living for... it was enough to be alive, hang out with my friends, go camping, skiing, and of course think and dream about the future.
Then I got a job, started making money and started to travel.
I've been to a few places and while it was interesting at the time it wasn't exactly fulfilling because I was always doing it alone. I have sworn off of it for the most part, because air travel is absolutely horrible for the climate and I've really started to hate the entire experience of being a tourist. Recreational travel is inherently selfish and serves the same purpose as watching a movie-- it's all about killing your boredom. Sometimes you contribute to the local economy but typically that contribution is balanced out by the fact that they're accommodating your western high-consumption lifestyle, which is always bad for the local environment... and of course, they don't have the same standards.
Unless you're truly completely invested in what you're about to see and do and willing to be responsible about it, the best you will get is a momentary shock or sense of awe which will arrive usually at the expense of the future of what you are seeing or doing. You can do better things by focusing on your own surroundings and your own community, or creating something amazing in your own back yard.
I think there's always going to be this urge to raise the stakes and keep pushing yourself towards more engaging forms of leisure, but it's never going to be enough and it doesn't make you a better person, in fact it probably just makes you more self-centered.
Right now I'm focusing on a creative personal project (which I suppose is pretty self-centered), but after completely that I want to dedicate myself 100 percent to a conscientious, environmentally friendly and socially positive lifestyle. The most rewarding form of existence I can imagine is knowing you're capable of resisting the status quo because you believe in making the world better. All I really need is to know I'm doing a good thing, living responsibly, and I have someone who loves me.... contenting myself with that shouldn't be too hard.
I say this is a troll post. OP hasn't been back in three pages.
I'm even more cynical than OP -- ask anyone on the Las Vegas forum and they'll agree. But I get up every day and not just get through it but kick posterior. Every day. Wake up, kick butt, lather, rinse, repeat.
Why? I fervently believe that my generation is either the last, or the second-to-last generation that gets to do basically whatever we want. We get to eat what we want, drink what we want, and do what we want for a living. Upward mobility is still real (although disappearing fast).
Subsequent generations will live in "survival mode." Just wait until Bangladesh and the good parts of Florida slip under the sea, along with the lion's share of the high-dollar real estate around the world. We are looking at a mass diaspora of humanity never seen before. And those people won't get to eat what they want, drink what they want, do what they want -- and there will be no such thing as upward mobility. Just survival.
I try to live a superior life because that isn't going to be an option in a few decades. Not the way things are going at least. But I do hold out hope that we will pull a "deus ex machina" solution out of our posteriors.
The scant few people in my life that care about me. That's it.
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I'm happy that I don't have any stresses of having someone in my life. It's cliché but it's more of the journey which counts.
