Life.
Go ahead and say it over and over again until it sounds like a weird word. Kind of like "fork". It makes you think, who came up that? Right?
Life. Such a simple, four-letter word that is so...well, not simple? I hear people say all the time, "You better enjoy every day because life's too short". Ironically, it's the longest thing we experience. But that word...life...what does it really mean? What part do you play in this life? Where do you fit into the word? What's your reason for living? What path do you take? What does success in life mean? Am I happy?
I think at some point in life, those questions cross our mind. For me, it was definitely through my mid-twenties as I struggled to figure out who I was and what I wanted, only answering those questions based on what society deemed as acceptable. We look for answers to these questions like they actually exist when in reality, they don't. We fill our lives with meaningless materialistic things because we can. Will fill voids. It's what we do. We look to answers for those questions in religion, traveling, hobbies, work, family and friends. And at the end of the day, if some how we come up short which without a doubt you will, you start looking at yourself. I did.
Life seems like such an easy word, but unfortunately, it's only an easy word in a 5th grade spelling bee. Life is full of surprises. It's full of ups, downs, all the emotions one could possibly think of, trials and tribulations and most of all it's full of change. For there is nothing in life that ever remains constant. As each year passes and we get older by the second, we learn to live and grow in the life we are given and try to make sense of what we believe will make us happy. For me, it seemed always coming up short.
You see, where I struggle with this word has nothing to do with the inability to accept change. I love it. I actually thrive off of it. It also has nothing to do with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows because nothing is perfect. Where I seem to come up short is answering what "I" want and what "I" view as happy. In a society that has no problem telling you how to feel and what defines things like beauty, success, happiness, love and education, no wonder we have trouble figuring out where we fit in. If we don't look like magazine models, get a job where we climb the corporate ladder, have a family before 30, love someone of the opposite gender or graduate from college, we must not be happy. We must not being doing this thing called "life"right.
If I could, I would pack my bags and backpack around Europe for a couple months, truly figuring out who I am and what I value. Many people would consider that "wreckless" and "irresponsible" because I'm almost 27 and should be focused on my career and settling down. I'm sorry, I must not be on the recipient list of these Life email "Memos" that get sent out. Since when does being different and curious mean you aren't successful and responsible? Since when does not being married by 30 or having children mean "you aren't the settling down type"? Since when does staying in a job you hate because you have the ability to advance make you smart and not an absolute dumbass? Who defines these things? Who sets these standards? Who tells you that it's wrong and makes you justify being different?
Life. Yes, it's a complicated word. It's metaphorically long yet absolutely beautiful. When did I realize this? When I stopped caring about what other people thought about MY LIFE and what I was doing. When I stopped listening to the people who said you "can't or "you're doing it wrong". When I started taking care of myself, doing what made me happy and helping other people. When you take a step back, stop judging, stop being negative, stop making excuses, stop putting others down, stop justifying your decisions, stop being the person society says you "need" to be...you figure out your place. I can tell it won't happen over night, it's a long process that fortunately doesn't end. It doesn't matter where you come from, it only matters where your going. And in that, life is a beautiful thing, regardless of what society says.
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