Bringing out the big questions tonight because it’s slightly late and I’m alone in my bedroom with rather a lot of energy because I’ve been to the gym and feeling pumped. So, what’s the meaning of life, eh?
I’m joking. Won’t go that far. Yet.
In all seriousness though, I have actually been throwing about a few (not quite so big) questions in my mind and in conversations with others lately. I don’t always talk to myself. I’ve been trying to figure out what I actually maybe kinda want from life. Intangible goals, if you will.
What am I looking for?
What are we all looking for?
I reached the dumbfoundingly obvious conclusion that balance is the common theme to my answers. In the simplest of terms, anyway. Balance between doing things for the short-term pleasure of it, and doing things to make a lasting impact on my life. To quote a conversation I had earlier – “I want to go anywhere and see things and enjoy it rather than get stuck in a boring job that doesn’t allow me to do it” – yep, me too. Overwhelmingly so.
Apparently an hour’s talk in a lecture on “how happiness and wellbeing are more important than money and all that” spurred these thoughts on, and I can totally see why! Money’s never been a real motivating factor to me. Obviously a comfortable amount of money from a job I find satisfying would be perfect and I’m not a naive idiot, but it’s not the no.1 goal. I don’t think you’d need to experience being ‘rolling in it’ to realise that money does not guarantee happiness.
We work hard in college to get the grades to go to university to get the job to… earn money… whilst being told that the best things in life are free, the irony. Hence the constant quest for balance. Life’s a never-ending balancing act between wanting the freedom to do whatever, whenever, and having something reliable to depend on, be it a home, a job, a person, a plan B. The combination of the new, exciting and unknown with the familiar is what we all need. Creature comforts like the tiny mug that was gifted to you age 8 (we all have them) and pictures on the walls that travel with you from house to house are comforting additions to day-to-day life, but even continuity isn’t quite so comforting without other things changing to throw it into contrast.
Life’s a balancing act between wanting to push ourselves to our limits (because who knows what we can achieve???) and wanting to just be happy in the present, not caring, relaxing and being content. I’m pretty sure every student struggles – at least to some extent – with balancing wanting to be young and carefree, and doing what they know they should be doing for their future self’s benefit. It’s that short term vs. long term pleasure thing again.
I don’t know about other bloggers, but balancing blogging as a ‘braindump’ and blogging as an outlet to cover real-world issues and feature amazing brands and (hopefully) bestow a little wisdom here and there is a tricky one for me. Balance between taking it seriously enough and taking myself too seriously.
To answer my original question, I haven’t a clue what I’m looking for, but I know that I’d like my life to be balanced. Let’s all try not to topple over, yeah?
lily kate x
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