We wait all week for Friday, all year for summer, and all life for happiness.
Ricky Gervais once tweeted "Remember, Mondays are fine. It's your life that sucks." Although relatively comical, the statement is very much true. Mondays are continuously moaned about, so does that mean everyone hates their life?
The reason that people often dread Mondays is because they dislike their job. One of my biggest fears for the future is being forced to work a job I hate because it is easier to achieve or it 'pays the bills'. It is something so foolish that people risk their happiness in order to have enough money. Of course money is important, as it is a cause of happiness in itself. However, being in an unsatisfying job is not worth the limited/temporary happiness brought about by having more of it.
“Making money isn't hard in itself... What's hard is to earn it doing something worth devoting one's life to.” - Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind.
Understandably, we can try our hardest to achieve our dream jobs, however some of us will just simply never reach these goals. That's the way life is sometimes. Yet, that doesn't mean that we have to settle for a life that we hate.
"Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars only came out once every thousand years. No one would sleep that night, of course. The world would create new religions overnight. We would be ecstatic, delirious, made rapturous by the glory of God. Instead, the stars come out every night and we watch television." - Paul Hawken.
This statement is inspiring as it highlights the superficiality within our lives. UK viewers currently watch an average of four hours and two minutes of television a
day.(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21828961) Now I'm not saying this time should be spent appreciating the stars, but this time could occasionally be used better.
In '25 Things To Do Before You Turn 25',
8. Make a habit of going outside, enjoying the light, relearning your friends, forgetting the internet.
11. Don’t keep wearing high heels if you hate them; don’t keep smoking if you’re disgusted by the way you smell the morning after; stop wasting entire days on your couch if you’re going to complain about missing the sun.
12. Take time to revisit the places that made you who you are: the apartment you grew up in, your middle school, your hometown. These places may or may not be here forever; you definitely won’t be.
13. Find a hobby that makes being alone feel lovely and empowering and like something to look forward to.
15. Forget who you are, what your priorities are, and how a person should be.
16. Identify your fears and instead of letting them dictate your every move, find and talk to people who have overcome them. Don’t settle for experiencing .000002% of what the world has to offer because you’re afraid of getting on a plane.
25. Quit that job that’s making you miserable, end the relationship that makes you act like a lunatic, lose the friend whose sole purpose in life is making you feel like you’re perpetually on the verge of vomiting. You’re young, you’re resilient, there are other jobs and relationships and friends if you’re patient and open
We are constantly living with the fear that we are wasting our lives. As we get older, time tends to feel like it is moving more quickly. The amount of people I've heard say "I can't believe it's April already" is almost frightening.
Philip Yaffe (http://ubiquity.acm.org/article.cfm?id=1455706) and Ronald E. Riggio, Ph.D. (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/201004/why-time-goes-faster-you-get-older) discuss the reasons for this.
In '25 Things To Do Before You Turn 25',
8. Make a habit of going outside, enjoying the light, relearning your friends, forgetting the internet.
11. Don’t keep wearing high heels if you hate them; don’t keep smoking if you’re disgusted by the way you smell the morning after; stop wasting entire days on your couch if you’re going to complain about missing the sun.
12. Take time to revisit the places that made you who you are: the apartment you grew up in, your middle school, your hometown. These places may or may not be here forever; you definitely won’t be.
13. Find a hobby that makes being alone feel lovely and empowering and like something to look forward to.
15. Forget who you are, what your priorities are, and how a person should be.
16. Identify your fears and instead of letting them dictate your every move, find and talk to people who have overcome them. Don’t settle for experiencing .000002% of what the world has to offer because you’re afraid of getting on a plane.
25. Quit that job that’s making you miserable, end the relationship that makes you act like a lunatic, lose the friend whose sole purpose in life is making you feel like you’re perpetually on the verge of vomiting. You’re young, you’re resilient, there are other jobs and relationships and friends if you’re patient and open
We are constantly living with the fear that we are wasting our lives. As we get older, time tends to feel like it is moving more quickly. The amount of people I've heard say "I can't believe it's April already" is almost frightening.
Philip Yaffe (http://ubiquity.acm.org/article.cfm?id=1455706) and Ronald E. Riggio, Ph.D. (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/201004/why-time-goes-faster-you-get-older) discuss the reasons for this.
'Our first love, our first heartbreak, driving a car, landing a job, marriage, etc. When we look forward, all these milestones seem impossibly far in the future. However once achieved, how quickly they recede into the past.'
'The early years are full of first-time events... First occasions are novel events and we tend to make more detailed and lasting memories of those first times. When we repeat the event, year after year, it is less likely to make a unique or lasting impression.'
These observations mean that in order to truly appreciate and slow down our fast paced lives, we should experience new things as often as possible.
"So please ask yourself: What would I do if I weren’t afraid? And then go do it." - Sheryl Sandberg (Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead)
Drop the excuse that you're busy and make time.
It is easier said than done, but something always worth thinking about.
"So please ask yourself: What would I do if I weren’t afraid? And then go do it." - Sheryl Sandberg (Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead)
Drop the excuse that you're busy and make time.
It is easier said than done, but something always worth thinking about.
