I wasted my time. What good did it do?
In Search of a Meaningful Life on the Trail of Wasted Time
When I am interested in a person’s life and deeds, whether they are well-known or not, I immediately try to find out how old they are. This is very interesting to me.
When I thought about why I do this, I came to the following conclusion.
Hold on tight, here comes the confession :)
If the person whose age I’m curious about is around my age and is doing great things for me, I make comparisons, I feel sorry, I get angry with myself (what I’m doing is absolutely not right), I experience this feeling for a while, then I move on with my life.
If he/she is older than me, I say ohh, there is still time ahead of me, I relax :)( This is absolutely not right)
“I wasted my time. What good did it do?” Sumerian proverb
When we take a look at history, we come across inspiring life stories of people whose lives were small and who were big themselves. Halil Jibran, for example, died at the age of 43. But what works he left behind. Or think of Sabahattin Ali, who died at the age of 41 while trying to emigrate to another country. There are also some people who, no matter how long they live, are of no use to anyone!
My personal opinion is that after living a “meaningful life”, it doesn’t matter how long we live. Of course, this meaning varies from person to person. The main point is to create a meaning to hold on to.
For example, in “My Confessions” Tolstoy describes his painful process of finding the meaning of life in such an impressive way that he spends two years among poor people who find the meaning of life in faith, thinking that he died without finding the meaning he was looking for. In time, his love for them grows, while the rich class from which he comes has completely fallen out of favor.
“It doesn’t matter what answers faith gives us, because every answer of faith gives infinite meaning to man’s finite existence, and this meaning is not destroyed by suffering, despair and death. That is why the meaning of life and the possibility of living can only be found in faith.” Tolstoy
He distanced himself from people who did not live as he believed and embraced people who lived according to their beliefs.
When writing an article on the meaning of life, it would be impossible to continue without mentioning Victor Frankl. Among people who think, write and read, I think there are very few people who do not know his book Man’s Search for Meaning.
“To live is to suffer, to sustain life is to find meaning in this suffering.” Victor E. Frankl
Frankl suggests 3 ways for people who have not yet found the meaning in their lives and who have difficulty in finding it.
According to Frankl, these 3 ways are as follows;
- By producing a work or doing a job
- By experiencing something or interacting with a person
- By developing an attitude towards inevitable suffering
For me, the meaning of life is peace, sharing, producing and being inspired. Every day I spend in parallel with this meaning, I go to bed peacefully at night and wake up energized and vigorous in the morning.
Muazzez İlmiye Çığ, a 109-year-old young lady, says that what keeps people young is “the joy of living, the desire to produce and the ability to love”. And she adds, she suggests that we should look at events and situations from these 4 windows.
1. Whatever happens, always think of the good and the solution.
2. Don’t give up your effort to “be yourself” even if the circumstances force you to.
3. Never hold a grudge.
4. Always be in moderation.
He says that when we get into the habit of looking through these windows, we can avoid pessimism, laziness, and toxic emotions.
Please think about it, 100 billion people have been on this earth so far. As of 2024, the world’s population is 8 billion 73 million.
And where are the rest of the people?
How many of them do we remember?
“The value of life is not in living it long, but in living it well.” Montaigne
Time is a relative theory. In the end, it’s not so much how long you live, but what you do that produces value in the time you live.
If you have come this far, I would like to make another confession. When I sat down at the computer to write a blog, I had a very different “writing topic” in mind :)
As it flowed, when I completed the article, I realized that I was writing about a completely different topic. It was an experience where I wrote down what I wanted to convey without limiting my mind. This must be the beauty of writing.
Hope to meet you in another article.
Love…
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