The Life Living Lessons

I've been arguing with myself about how to live my life. Does every single moment have to be a productive one? And what exactly is "productivity" anyway? Is that just a relative thought or an actual concrete state of being? One person's idea of being productive (like writing this blog post for example) could easily be another's idea of slacking off due to the lack of immediate, tangible reward resulting in the process. Does it even matter? Are we living for ourselves or for everyone else's view of us? How often do we do things because we believe others will respect us for it? In the midst of that aren't we running the risk of disrespecting ourselves by forsaking our genuity and living for the approval of others?

Everyone says life is about being happy, but then theres all this sub text that says you need money, an enviable career, and an overflowing passport in order to qualify. Otherwise we feel "less than", like we're wasting our lives, and it really isn't fair. Why does someone else (who doesn't even really know your life) get to tell you how you should be living it? It has gotten even worse with the whole Instagram, Twitter, and various social media takeover. Now we get to see slivers of someone's life, maybe only the few good slivers they even have, and if it's something we don't have but think we'd probably want, we end up feeling like crap. Sometimes we get inspired, but mostly we just feel kinda crappy.

You have to be able to look at yourself in the mirror and say "I'm living. I'm living my life. The life I'm happy with, for me" If you can honestly say that, if you can speak honestly about your life without fluffing it some or having to look at the ground due to shame then I'd say you're okay. But then again, everyone has different standards. For some people, working a 9 to 5 and being home in time to make Cup o Noodles before their favorite show airs is "the life." And who am I to tell them they're full of crap and they're a failure?

 What true happiness actually consists of is all relative. Even though the media keeps telling us it's about money and mileage they also show us through the slews of cracked up celebrities that a fat bank account and designer clothing doesn't cut it. So what then? How do we "get there"? I think it is simply a matter of knowing who you are and living purely for yourself. Not letting someone else's opinions, your own doubts, and those pesky, lying fears sabotage the life that lives in your mind, that you're only a few focused efforts away from actually living.

 Many say their biggest fear is to fail, and even though the following sounds really cliche its a cliche for a reason: Those who try never fail, those who fail are the ones who don't try. Okay, I kinda botched that but you get my drift. I believe the reason this stands true is because when you really want something you're passionate about it, and passion moves people, deep desire and unrelenting drive forces people to notice, it forces them to take you seriously. So on that note, there's one more cliche: If you believe it, you can achieve it, and the reason for that is because if you truly believe it with all your heart, everyone else can't help but believe it too and before you know it it's fact.