whats the point of living?

Question

we spend 13 years of our lives working through school. then we spend around four more years of our lives, just waiting to be done with college. We graduate, get a job, and spend the rest of our lives up to 60ish to retire. then we finally, MAYBE enjoy ourselves. What happened to the living part of our lives? how do you make sure you live, and dont just stand and watch the time pass you by?

Answer 1

The "point" of living is living.

The problem comes when people just go through life doing what comes to them without ever understanding, much less deciding what they want "living" to mean.

Think about it. Decide what "living" should mean to you. Then take action to do that.

Or you can whine....

Answer 2

It is a balancing act. Live each day for what is important. Many people see material possesions and a comfortable life as important and spend all of their lives working so that one day they can have all of the possessions that they want. This is very dangerous since we are all mortal and will one day have to account to God for how we have spent our lives. There is no point working and earning money only to die the day after you retire (or even earlier). That said, we should also be responsible and make sure that we work for our living rather than sponging off others.

Answer 3

if you enjoy your work have great friends live life to the full then you can say that you are living well enjoy life when your young so when you get old you can tell your grand kids yeah i have been there done that.if you travel to places with friends you can have good times sure life has its ups and downs but it is your decision how you live your life and what you do with your life, ask your self what makes you happy then set a goal and go for it everything takes time as the nike ad says JUST DO IT

Answer 4

Learning is a part of life. Our mission on earth is to get a body and experience love and hate and all the emotions that a person can feel. It is all a test. Start your own business, that is where to start making a lot of money.

Answer 5

This is a good question and usually it stems from anger and frustration. You need to do things that make you happy. Honestly the only thing that makes me happy is screwing people over and getting away with it. But hey I'm F*ucked up. I say you should find yourself.

Answer 6

I think the only reason we are here is to grow in spirit and maybe learn something. We don't have to aspire to any greatness. I woke up this morning. That makes it a great day. But then that's my view of it all. You have to pick your own. Just don't make it complicated. It's not.

Answer 7

Oh yeah, and don't forget that when you get to the age where you maybe enjoy your life your body is already deteriorating.

I guess it has to be about the people you love. If you truly love them you go with the crazy flow of life to be with them.

Answer 8

A lot of your perceptions are based on the social class you are in. I can assure you that Paris Hilton isn't living the life you describe.

The simple reason that the majority of people follow this routine - education, work, retirement - is because modern civilization has afforded us this LUXURY! That's right, I said luxury.

Hundreds of years ago, children went to WORK as soon as they were old enough... 7-8 yrs. Most people never got an education. They were lucky if they were taught to read (usually by the church.) Retirement? Ha! You worked until you died, unless you happened to be lucky enough to have children willing to take care of you.

Simply put, the 13 years of childhood education we get now (what you call "working" through school) are a playground that didn't exist 200 years ago. The very idea of "retiring", living off savings or investments with no responsibilities other than relaxing, is a product of the 20th century. To be able to spend the last 10 or 20 years of your life in relative ease is a modern day miracle. (although other countries, such as China and Japan, treat seniors with great reverence and respect, not as the burdens we Americans do.)

To answer your question directly, it's up to YOU to figure out how to "enjoy" yourself. Assuming you live in America, you have the GREATEST opportunity you can imagine. You can wake up tomorrow and be or do ANYTHING you want. In this country, you can experience day-to-day joy to a greater degree than in any other country on earth. You are free to choose your career (or no career), get an education (or not), choose where to live, how to live, who to associate with, you can come and go as you please, you can speak your mind, disagree with your leaders, HELL you can do almost anything, and the things you can't do, you can fight to change! How can you not enjoy yourself?

How do you make sure you live? Easy. BY LIVING! Time will pass you by, very, very quickly in fact, if you don't get involved in life! You need to be proactive. Your life isn't going to just change for the better by itself. You have to set goals and achieve them. You have to be disciplined. You have to DO what you ENJOY, and that means figuring out what you LOVE and focusing on it. Practice being BOLD and being COURAGEOUS. Don't let people tell you can't make a living doing what you love most, because I guarantee you there is someone in this world doing exactly that. There are kids who grew up in the 80's playing video games after school, and today they are millionaire internet whizzes because they DID WHAT THEY LOVED, even when people said they were crazy. Having PASSION for something, ANYTHING, is always going to create success.

Don't sell your dreams for small desires. People become trapped in their paradigms, and soon they can't see any other point of view. You have to break out. Let new people into your life. If you work 25 years at McDonalds, it won't be a surprise when you start to tell everyone there is nothing more in life than flipping burgers, but Donald Trump might disagree with you.

I would suggest you start by doing two things.

1) Write your own eulogy. It sounds crazy, but it's a great exercise in seeing yourself how other people see you. That should give you some great (possibly embarrassing) insights into what you need to change.

2) Read. Preferably books as opposed to websites. One of the greatest things modern culture has given us is the ability to acquire the life experiences of complete strangers through the written word. Books can change your life because they allow you to stand in someone elses shoes for a short period of time.

There are many, many excellent books that discuss the subject of how to enjoy/change your life, and reading them can actually help you to do just that - change your life. I suggest starting out with two of my personal favorites, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, by Steven Covey, and Zen and the Art of Making a Living by Laurence G. Boldt.

Good luck!

(PS - I just looked over some of your other questions and see that you are only 16. Mostly all the above advice still applied, but the best part is that you have your whole life ahead of you, SO DON'T WORRY. You have a lot of time to try different things until you find out what works. Some people don't figure out what is "right" for them until they are 40 or 50 years old! That's okay, as long as you are happy. Being happy is very, very important, so if you aren't happy, you need to figure out why, and do whatever is necessary to become happy! There are many people who can help you... parents, relatives, teachers, doctors, clergy, counselors, and ever the crazy people on Yahoo!)

Answer 9

Everything that you mentioned is life. That's what life is, the stuff you do while you are alive. If you are worried about missing it, just make sure you notice it when it happens.

Answer 10

the point of living in some peoples eyes is to mate. others think worship is the point. I just wanna get by.