What Are We Really Missing Out On?
Day 119 of 365.
Despite the angst ridden, existentialist musings and wiling self doubts that dominate the millennial/quarter life crisis, I have a good time.
When I think of it, people have always been contemplative.
Thoreau said, “The mass of men lead lives in quiet desperation”. Socrates said, “Beware the barrenness of a busy life”. People have always felt uncomfortable with contemporary societal life. For me to feel the way that I do (at times, an angsty teenager in a 27 year old woman’s body) is entirely normal. It’s human nature.
Living by modern (or even austere) societal norms is unnatural. We are blessed with rational thought, and to have rational thought is to contemplate life. It is what separates us from animals, and what allows us to build beyond the simple necessities of survival.
What can we do to feel better?
I wonder if the discontent that is felt is from simply not listening to ourselves. As we’ve gotten older, we’ve come to rely on ourselves less, and more on other people’s opinions, google maps and google. Could it be that the amount of reliance we’ve put on everything but ourselves is causing our own downfall?
Were people happier in simpler times, when they were living out in the bush?
If wanting more out of life, being contemplative and seeking understanding from yourself and the world is a normal process of humans, then I’ll have to accept it. I just have to accept that I will always have these somewhat melancholy musings and hey, I just have to grow from there right?
