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Joined 1 year ago
Cake day: June 21st, 2023
  • becool@kbin.socialtoNo Stupid Questions@lemmy.world•Anyone else feel like ~99% of their life was kind of wasted?
    2·
    1 year ago

    i am going to tell you some universal truths.

    1. first truth: you will not fully understand these truths. though i list them here clearly, you will still learn them the hard way.

    2. do not compare yourself to others. regardless of how you measure their success, you will find only a brief moment of satisfaction upon outdoing them, followed swiftly by regret, insecurity, and, not long after that, emotional crisis.

    3. financial and professional success are antithetical to happiness and fulfillment at least as often as they aren’t.

    4. you can only ever know yourself. everyone’s life is a series of choices. only you can know what choices are the right ones for you. you cannot know anyone else’s choices. you cannot know if anyone else is making the right or wrong choices. you cannot know what motivates others. your dataset for anyone else is so incomplete as to prevent the drawing of any good conclusions. no good reason to compare yourself to anyone. but when you do, there’s no good reason to feel bad about it, or good about it, and certainly no good reason to feel bad instead of good.

    5. what follows is a cliche, but it is not a cliche: your life begins now, and now, and now. you can only do something now. not back then and not in a bit. now. really understand this. if you’re not happy now, it’s because you keep doing things that make you unhappy. now, if you’re not happy now, it’s because you’re still not doing anything to make yourself happy. what are you doing to make yourself unhappy?

    6. you’re making yourself unhappy. it’s not them making you unhappy. they might be doing things you’re not happy with, but you’re the one doing unhappiness. now, if you want to bank all your happiness and fulfillment on outdoing these people, that’s fine, but it’s going to be awhile. years, decades, you’re entire life, perhaps. but, don’t forget number 2: happiness can’t be found on this route. i wonder what it would look like, what choices you’d have to make, to be happy, and much sooner?

    let me know how it goes. also, apologies for the length. it’s all stream of consciousness and i’m to lazy to edit.

    homework: read The Tao of Pooh

    ❤️