Astha Singh
Aug 26, 2017 · 2 min read

THE 20’S CRISIS IN THE 21ST CENTURY

“Happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence”- Aristole, Greek Philosopher & Scientist

In the 21st century we have been told repeatedly by our friends and family to be ‘happy’ or be ‘satisfied’ in life.As we slog through our work week and catch the latest movie on the weekend, we see Wonder Woman defeat Ares and she seems pretty satisfied or we go the bar and dance the night away and everybody seem to have a good time as they jump to the latest remix of Despacito. Everywhere around us products like bottled sodas are sold to us with the sole purpose, that this thing perhaps will somehow contribute to our everlasting quest for eternal joy and maybe even make us something more than what we normally are in our day to day lives.

As we follow the society’s road map of school, college, million dollar job, marriage and kids, are we truly exhilerated when we are ticking them off our list? Or even when one gets the house of his dreams or the Bentley or finally finds the perfect partner to marry why doesn’t the feeling last forever? Perhaps Aristolte had it right in 350 BC, and the quest for true happiness is the actual Holy Grail that has transcended over thousands of years. Not some sunken treasure off the coast of the meditteranean or the hot chick at the gym or even the latest IPhone. But how do we achieve this everlasting state of joyousness? As a single 28 year old from a country where happiness for a woman is her husband and children,(from which I disagree of course) I can say that the first step towards that road is being at peace with your own presence, who you are and what you do in everyday life and most importantly doing the same service to others.

Of course one has to also do good to feel good as they say, but one has to do them as a second nature. And it’s not the same for everybody and not everyone can follow the same road map to find peace but one has to custom make his own map and allow others to do the same for themselves, even if it’s as wierd as hanging upside down in an igloo somewhere in Iceland. It’s true that no two people on this planet have the same fingerprint and no two people have the same persoanlity, and so a same map for everyone is not workable.

And lastly, leave somethings uncontrolled. One can call it absolute surrender or leaving things upto God but after giving your best and beyond a certain point we are sometimes not in complete control of our destiny and there is no point beating ourselves over it.

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Astha Singh

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Entrepreneur, Anti-Drug Activist, Servant of dogs. From New Delhi, India