One thing that has perplexed me for as long as I can remember are people who live life with no goals. I believe one shouldn't look to far down the road, but having a few long term goals will give one a direction. The Baby Boomer generation has planted this idea that retirement is a good idea and strives for it. I don't feel that "retirement" is an option...for one that same generation has screwed us who are younger out of proper retirement anyway. But why do I really care think about having fun when i'm sixty...striving for a truck load of money...working myself half retarded...spending my good years in a cubicle (if you choose that route) or a factory floor (of one kind or another) is so pointless. Right now I have myself anchored to my graduate school for the next 17 months. I will follow through with this. Not following through with a plan is worse than just wondering what it would have been like. Besides, this is testing my metal to see if I can do this. It is a goal and I will finish one way or another. Does it make me happy? I don't think so. Sometimes what you think will make you happy doesn't at all. Sedentary life does not make me happy. Nope... But back to goals. Having the goal to save up for your twilight years seems so damned pointless to me. When your dead, that's it. I'm not saying not give yourself a little room for contingency plans in the light of something crazy happening, but just living to save up to die. Dude...your doing it wrong.
A goal should augment your life. Direction can be important. I feel it motivates the soul/essence in important ways. Goals invigorate the imagination. Goals give forward motion in expanding the mind. Goals keep the body young and active. The last thing a person needs is to just slap down in front of the boob tube and degenerate in front of reality T.V. for the next 40 years. 100 years ago a person would be horse whipped by family members if they ended up so lazy. Some of the greatest tools of the modern age are also some of the most exploitable for terrible reasons. Television and the Internet are two of them. Both can be fantastic learning tools or mind deadening distractions from the real world. Connecting with nature is a goal unto itself. In some cases it's a reconnection. I feel that most of society has lots any form of connection with nature. This is such a shame.
Another aspect of goals is the fear of failing. I know this one all to well. I'm shy. I'm full of fear. I've been told that i'm arrogant. That is not the case. When I am scared my mind tries to bolster itself. Buttressing itself with bravado. This is my nature and I try and overcome it. My mind flies with dragons and fairies (I have a fantastic imagination). So why shouldn't my physical form attempt to flap it's proverbial wings and soar into the great blue sky? Fear? Failure? The concept of fear has held my will down for so long. I will not hear of it anymore. The willpower it took to move out of state to graduate school was profound. A first step toward greater goals. If a person wants to do something...simply do it. I know, I know. I should take my own advice. Trust me, I am trying. Some folks have the luxury of not being shy or scared. This is one thing that makes life so interesting. Everyone is as different as a snow flake during a blizzard. I would have it no other way. Plunging into the world head first is one of those terrifying, yet exhilarating, acts that I feel everyone should achieve. I'm not talking about going out of your home and to the nearest 7-11. No, i'm talking about visiting a new city, or state, or country. Talk to people, see what there is to see. Do not be afraid of failing. If you are on vacation in another place try something new. Even if it doesn't work out the way you would have thought you have at least tried.
Trying new things is the spice of life. I know, a very over used term, but true. Doing the same thing day in and day out will leave a bland taste to life. Set a goal, try it, and if you don't like it at least you can say that you did it and it wasn't for you. Granted there are some things you just know you don't want and don't want to try. That's fine. But don't' back down from the things you do want to do. And if something presents itself why not give it a whirl? What have you got to lose?
From personal experience, I spent far to much of my life being tied down to fear. Dreaming of the cool things I wanted to do, but would probably not because "I couldn't". Couldn't has been erased from my dictionary. I can do anything that I want. I can't put my finger on the moment that my mind locked into living things under my terms. It may have been when my grandmother finally passed away (a pivotal point in my life...a blog for another day). It may have been during the two years of job hunting for a "real job" that showed me how much I don't want a life ruled by another persons sanctions. It could have been a spiritual upheaval and renaissance of sorts. Or all of that smashed into one ball of epiphany. Whatever it was my goals have been drastically changed. Constants in my life are moving like around and disappearing. New things are coming into being.
Change. Goals will change as a person changes. I feel sorry for individuals that do not change. Personal and spiritual (i'm not Christian...just spiritual in general - whatever the persuasion) growth is just as important as about anything one can think of. Let those goals morph as you morph. Follow the path and if you see something neat then head for that.
I think that is enough introspection for today. Enjoy the last days of winter. The spring is just around the corner.
“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”
―
Ernest Hemingway
“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.”
―
Albert Einstein
“If you were born without wings, do nothing to prevent them from growing.”
―
Coco Chanel
“Be practical as well as generous in your ideals. Keep your eyes on the stars, but remember to keep your feet on the ground.”
―
Theodore Roosevelt
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