xisnotx
Permabanned
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2010
- Messages
- 2,144
Do you set a goal and go after it, or do you just live life one day at a time and see where it takes you?
So far, I've been doing the latter and I guess this is where it has taken me. Honestly, looking around, I have no right to complain about anything...I have a lot going for me. But it's looking like the whole "living life on a whim" thing is starting to not pan out as much as I would have liked. It turns out my "whims" are mostly centered around being lazy and enjoying the ride. Practical things like.... acquiring food, clothes, shelter...as they don't seem to just produce themselves out of thin air...I find myself needing to actually apply some effort into acquiring them.
So, my question, really, is....how do you balance the "going after it" mindset with the "taking it easy" one?
Is the life lived constantly on the go in the pursuit of self set goals better than the one devoted exclusively to taking life as it comes?
I think one of my biggest fears is looking back at 75 and realizing I should have done it all differently. The good thing with having no goals is having nothing to fail at. The bad thing with having no goals is having nothing to do, just waiting around for death (though in essence that's all we all are doing...but I'm talking more about the meantime. I have a good 60 years or so before that happens...and 60 years is (quite literally, lol) forever for me). Goals also open up the possibility of failure, and I'm not sure which would be worse...the looking back and realizing you failed at your goals (and therefore a significant part of "life") or the looking back and realizing you should have been setting goals and have more or less drifted along life without doing anything.
So yeah, how do you balance the two (concerns)?
So far, I've been doing the latter and I guess this is where it has taken me. Honestly, looking around, I have no right to complain about anything...I have a lot going for me. But it's looking like the whole "living life on a whim" thing is starting to not pan out as much as I would have liked. It turns out my "whims" are mostly centered around being lazy and enjoying the ride. Practical things like.... acquiring food, clothes, shelter...as they don't seem to just produce themselves out of thin air...I find myself needing to actually apply some effort into acquiring them.
So, my question, really, is....how do you balance the "going after it" mindset with the "taking it easy" one?
Is the life lived constantly on the go in the pursuit of self set goals better than the one devoted exclusively to taking life as it comes?
I think one of my biggest fears is looking back at 75 and realizing I should have done it all differently. The good thing with having no goals is having nothing to fail at. The bad thing with having no goals is having nothing to do, just waiting around for death (though in essence that's all we all are doing...but I'm talking more about the meantime. I have a good 60 years or so before that happens...and 60 years is (quite literally, lol) forever for me). Goals also open up the possibility of failure, and I'm not sure which would be worse...the looking back and realizing you failed at your goals (and therefore a significant part of "life") or the looking back and realizing you should have been setting goals and have more or less drifted along life without doing anything.
So yeah, how do you balance the two (concerns)?