I wonder about the purpose of money and work sometimes, why is it that so many people decide to get stuck into the rat race of earning money to buy that house, raise kids and then look back after they're old to have survived such a tough obstacle course. I really do wonder if this is the way that people were really meant to live. To be honest, measuring success and happiness by the metrics of income, how much you've saved and the things you've bought are meaningless if you aren't happy. And if there is one thing that many modern cultures are short of, it is exactly that.
I find it ironic that in so many developed countries, that are so efficient, clean and prosperous end up having so many people that are over-worked and stressed out surviving the daily grind. Why is it that so many people are sent through so many years of grueling education, rack up so much debt and have to work like crazy to raise a family. Why is it that finding solace, peace and comfort are considered as luxuries. I cannot understand that mentality.
What is the purpose of life anyways? To each their own answers, but the only answer for me is to do the things that make me happy. I measure my quality of life by joys from the things I do and experience. And I've come to the realization that everything that is worth doing are the things that either brings or helps me attain those happy moments. And when I start viewing the world and everything I've been doing though this outlook, things start to make a lot of sense.
Real value, real happiness. The things worth doing.
There is so much needless stuff in the world today, sometimes I wonder if our culture has some how become fixated that it is necessary to produce more and more for us to consume and use is a good thing. I hear this all the time on the news and on economic reports, how a growing economy is a good thing, how people spending more money and how there are more jobs for people is supposed to be a good thing. I don't know about you, I'd rather not be working if I can help it.
We are obsessed with making and selling things, like somehow we need these things to survive. I've backpacked throughout SE asia once and it is quite amazing at how little one really needs to survive. All I really needed to survive for 3 months was contained in a single suitcase that I dragged around with me. When I look around in my room right now, with all the things in my room, I know that I could be happy with less. Some of my best experiences in life was when I was living as a backpacker, with nearly no possessions. As least for me, I know that I don't need a lot of possessions to be happy and as a result, I sometimes wonder why do we spend so much time and effort making things that we probably don't need. I can't say that the way that I want to live and the values I have might not be right for everyone, but at least from this perspective, we shouldn't be wasting time doing needless things.
If we are caught up with so many things that are superficial, what are the things worth doing then? To which I would answer "whatever makes you happy, in the long run." I add that caveat because there are activities that can bring short-term happiness while trading off long-term happiness, but like a lazy professor writing a university text book, I leave that as an exercise for the reader to figure out. If finding happiness to me and to others are the things really worth doing, it would be obvious that basing a business that offers something tangible to the quality of life to others is a recipe for success.
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