This is for those who found themselves lost, those who wandered away thinking, “what the hell am I doing here?” This is for those who are/were depressed and legitimately thought many times about calling it quits. This is for those who tasted the bitter taste of apathy. This is for those who are beginning to be honest with themselves. This is for those who made it out alive. This is for those who want to live..
Disclaimer: I do NOT claim in any way knowledge of anything. This is merely an attempt of almost non-related paragraphs to provoke thought and/or provide a different perspective for the various seekers out there.
I don’t know much, never knew much, and will never know much. I didn’t know that I’ll be writing about life in a blog that was mainly meant to be purely technical, and that was almost abandoned three years ago. One of the few things I know, however, is that I don’t know how to live, and I don’t know much – if anything – about life. Period.
Life is a journey, we go through it with bright goals and high hopes. Unfortunately, we almost always lose track of who we are. We try to please everyone, and everyone is trying to please us. We trap ourselves in a spectrum of stereotypes and societal norms. We start worrying too much about our actions and how appropriate and inappropriate they may seem. We stop caring about ourselves and what we want and rather worry about what others want, which ironically is the same thought that happens in everyone’s head. We look forward to the high paying jobs and the oh so desired “good life.” We make plans for our lives that fit what society wants and dream about them, naively thinking that life works however we want it to be, and whenever it doesn’t happen exactly how we wished it would have, we get so upset about it, but we move on, we forget all about it because life won’t stop for anyone or anything.
But do we live? Do we ever look in the mirror and say, “I am the person that I always wanted to be?” Do we ever accept ourselves for who we are? And if we do, do we ever take a look upon our lives so far and think, “this was never my plan to begin with?” Do we ever have the courage to get off the high horse we took for ourselves and realize that who we become is not the result of our own active planning and wits (despite their role as well), but rather the collective sum of all the experiences we go through and the decisions made, be planned or not?
Look around you, watch as your life welcomes new people and says farewell to others. Think of the many times you’ve genuinely enjoyed your time with someone. Are they still around? Do you remember how long has it been since someone close has passed away? People come and go regularly into our lives, some matter, some don’t. We got so used to not worry about it; that when the wind of change blows down a comfortable reality, we freak out. Only then do we realize what we had. Appreciate the people around you. Appreciate those who stood by your side.
Learn that things aren’t always what they seem to be, and that your view isn’t the only correct view out there. In fact, it’s one of many views on the same matter, some correct to you, others wrong, but realize that there are others who will always disagree, and that doesn’t mean they’re wrong, just different. Understand, live and let live. People aren’t wrong or right; an argument is usually a conflict in opinions. Open your mind up a bit and ask, try to see things from a different perspective. It’s not humiliating to ask, nor is it humiliating to understand, even if it seems like you’ve been wronged. Put your trust in people, even if they lie. You’re not naive to believe; if you’ve been truly wronged then shrug it off and move on, for this is true strength.
Have you ever wondered, “do I really need all the stuff I own or want to own?” Life is not about how much money you make or what your “career” path is, life isn’t about being busy all the time; too busy to sit down and enjoy the sunset, too busy to spend precious time with those whom you love and love you back. It’s not about running around buying stuff you might not ever need. Sure, some things are nice, but the point is to be content with what you have, and appreciate every single bit of it. That however, doesn’t exclude your thirst to progress, to be a better you. The new phone you want to buy is only going to make you temporarily happy, it’s not an appropriate event to center your life around. The new job you just landed isn’t going to keep you happy for long. Buy something for someone that’s not you, buy something for someone you appreciate, give something away; feel the love and happiness in seeing others genuinely happy, even if it’s the smallest of things in your opinion..
You’ll be hit with ups and downs. You’ll meet new people and say farewell to others. You’ll find new jobs and lose others. You’ll realize how much someone loves you and learn to see the truly faithful people around you. In the end, you’ll eventually leave this world without a thing, at any moment; you don’t know when. The question is, are you going to leave it happy leaving a wonderful legacy or are you going to leave miserable and sad? Just keep in mind that “on a long enough timeline, the survivability rate for everyone drops to zero.”
Live long and prosper.
Nasware 