On the subject of my life for the past year:
- is now in 2nd year of uni. motherfucking crapload of cbb,
- played a bunch of ds games. is sad that the ds is falling into obsolete-ness.
- OMFG ONE PIECE has taken over my life like an infectious disease OMFGWTFBBQ
- has grown 125% more cynical
- ...yeah.
On the subject of philosophical rambling:
(because you read my blog for this shit. right? right?)
My cohort (ie. people around my age), seem to be reaching an interesting place in life. I would call it a crossroad...but that seems to imply making choices, and this isn't really about that.
But we're really and truly out of high school, and although we're still studying, it's not all that insulated from the 'real world'.
Everyone's rushing to find jobs, earn money, gain independence while studying. It's almost competitive. We are all motivated to be successful as quickly as possible (or have surges of motivation to be successful). I'm hardly an exception...but it's still interesting to ask- why? what's the point?
I know I know- it sounds really obvious. I can think of many reasons, and there's undoubtedly dozens more depending on different people.
ie. success= more money, more power, more prestige.
But does having success equate to having a happy life?
I've been reading the Dresden Files series lately- it's mostly action mixed with magic and testosterone and fun...and the books are completely unrelated to this post. But it was a line somewhere in there that got me thinking.
Power, money, status. (and high marks, i guess) These give you OPTIONS- the freedom to pick and choose.
An example: a high Atar means you can pick out of a greater variety of courses. More money means you can choose to live in big houses.
It doesn't guarantee happiness.
They might contribute to happiness, yes. But that depends on what kind of person you are.
Now, in situations where the world is coming to an end and only the most powerful leaders and richest people get to escape- see 2012 (the movie), or where literally your life depends on climbing out of extreme poverty, etc- I'd say these qualities are really really important. But in this sort of environment (equality for everyone. centerlink support.), how important are having options, really? If you are happy at a $14 an hour, mediocre 9-5 job, how does having more options benefit you?
So what's the point, basically? Is having options that important, or can you be happy settling?
8 comments:
omgg i wrote a massive comment then it got erased T__T
anyway was just sayin', WHAT COMPETITION. dunno if you're talking about us, coz if anything hanging out wif u + co. is like, my only ESCAPE from the overachieving ppl i see at uni. like, massive release of pressure T__T coz we all know how friggin lazy i am. literally have to jab me with something to get me to move.
and success does give you happiness. it's the definition of success right? success isn't limited to success in work/salary.. if you care a lot about ur work, then yeah, obvs you'd be really competitive and try to succeed on that front, but if a person put more emphasis on other aspects of their life, like.. err family/relationships, success in the workplace wouldn't mean so much
i think it depends on what a person sees as important in life... .__. can't believe i said that.
being successful in life.. i think the most important thing is to be perpetually happy with what you've got. but there's nothing wrong with wanting more... 'money/status/...etc' as long as you can see that there's not only one way to attain happiness/be happy.. :S
YAY YOU BLOGGED XD i did eet! i did the impossimpible, and thanks for making me think a bit =__= even if it sounds like i didn't, i DID. okay. i soo didn't take this from all the movies i've watched in my entire life.
You're not deluding yourself. I have the same thoughts and I'm reaching a similar stage in my life. Its like everyone suddenly grew up while I stayed a kid and I don't even know how they did it. I'm not even sure whether I want to know. I'm really cynical as to whether following what everyone else is doing and getting a lame 9-5 job and crap is the right thing to do.
Is there any point? I'm not sure but maybe if I tell you what I've thought of you can figure something out. I'll try my best to make it short.
-Its impossible to have lasting happiness cause people are programmed to grow tired of their achievements and try to improve. Its a behaviour that helps animals survive. The best you could settle for is to be content (which is different to being happy), or to keep getting bigger and bigger stimuli to make you happy. Happiness is temporary, there is no guarantee to happiness (unless you go insane or take drugs or something?)
-We can work and self-improve to improve our chances of survival. We can work to build a big 'surplus' on top of the minimum requirements for survival.
-But we live in a modern society. It is easy to survive.
-Working often makes people unhappy.
-So why should people make themselves unhappy by working to improve their chances of survival, when they're already pretty much guaranteed a decent life already? I have a feeling they do it just because they're programmed to or because they think they'll be paid off with happiness.
For example, I felt compelled to be as successful as Bill Gates, so I picked a uni course which leads to a disgustingly well paid job which also happens to have horrible conditions. But now I'm questioning this. Why the hell do I need so much money for? I don't even like big houses and tvs. I could work in an easier but poorer paying job and still have a very decent life. Either choice will just lead to me being equally happy/miserable because happiness does not last.
There might be some other things to consider though. Like if I wanted to send my children to a private school, having a highly paid job might be pretty important. Also having a big surplus could mean survival if things go bad (the 2012 scenario). My parents wouldn't have been able to leave their country which was being invaded if they weren't fairly well off.
So yeah, whats the point?
I like meeting up with you bunch because it's my relief from uni. I hate it so much. Last year i hardly ever saw you guys and my only source of happiness came from $$$
I have to disagree with claire on this. In this society, i reckon money is everything and people try to convince themselves otherwise. Money defines people, opens doors to options that make them happy. To them it's insurance. If one doesn't work, move on the plan b.
And lack of money and options makes people upset and even suicidal. E.g. Knowing i can't afford a new laptop is really killing me - there, lack of money, loss of option... *pulls hair*
I work because i want experience, which will open my options to even more money. Besides working is really the only way to prove my independence to my parents.
We complain that our parents should let-us-be-because-we're-adults, but until we become independent enough we're under their rules. We eat off THEIR tables, live under THEIR roof. I'm not convinced any of us know what it's like to HAVE to work to live. Even though we're "truly out of high school", to our parents, bosses, teachers, we're still a bunch of ignorant brats. Why? because we are.
In addition people work and want money because society will respect them. And it just makes some people happy. I tried to tell myself that i didn't care what others thought of me. But i do. Everyone does to some degree. Knowing my brother looks up to me... it just brings me happiness.
I'm going to shut up now..
lol i just assumed anon was claire...
HANNAH I SOUND NOTHING LIKE ANON DDDDDDD:
i wanna be as successful as Bill Gates?
i do a uni course leading to a disgustingly high-paid job?
I WRITE WITH PERFECT GRAMMAR AND SPELLING?
nooo whuuuuuuuuut? i would've cracked at least one bad joke :'(
@clearnote- the "surges of motivation" bit was for you
@anon- woah yeah you expressed it a lot better than i did.
@hello- yeah of course you're not wrong. Everyone feels differently about it...I just blogged about it because I felt that the whole study-earn money-get successful thing is making me into one of those mice that runs around on the wheel. And I was wondering if other people felt like that too, that's all.
@misty- hi
So like with the benefit of the vast stroke of wisdom that hits you at 4am in the morning I feel like I can adequately comment on this. You know that feeling of what's the point/wtf why do I have to be competitive in a field I don't care for/why do I have to become corporate fodder just to get money to buy stuff I don't want?
This is why people end up having kids. It's like the combination of opting out and doing something 'meaningful' and 'worthy'. You see it with high achieving women who 'give it all up'to raise kids and go all out with bake sales.
If I was to be completely honest right now I'd feel satisfied with doing nothing but cooking, cleaning watching soaps and the occasional discussion about Northeast Asian relations. I'm too soft and lazy to do a job I don't want for money. I can't even stick with a degree for a semester if I'm not interested in the content.
So really, the question is,has modern society forced upon us a set of expectations and roles that none of us really want?
@qwertatious
Your comment totally deserves a gratuitous follow up comment. (btw, how's your new course? you should really log on to msn sometime and we can catch up).
And I think modern society is defined by the ideas of 'mainstream' or the majority of people. Like hannah said, most people do value wealth, etc etc. So those values are imposed on the minority, who gets caught up in the whole upward draft thing.So i guess the question is- do we (the minority i guess) go with the flow or not?
Anyway, I love that I could totally ramble and angst on about some theoretical what what what and get insightful responses. You guys are awesome XDDDD
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