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_the_searcher_
Stranger

Registered: 11/17/07
Posts: 9
Last seen: 12 years, 4 months
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What to do with life?
#7649029 - 11/17/07 08:53 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Howdy,
Just hoping to get some dialogue / input on a question that has been with me for quite some time.
How does one figure out what they want to do with their lives? Does it seem like so many people do what they do and want what they want because they're products of other people's expectations?
I'm in my late twenties, just out of grad school, and going through a bit of a "wandering in the wilderness" period, got disillusioned with my field of study during completion of my degree, and now have a good job, but feel without a larger purpose in life outside of the mundane tasks of earning a paycheck and paying my bills.
I judge my "wants" to be very strange. I want to be a music producer; hell, I AM a music producer, I've devoted several years to study and am now really good at it, but every time I get fired up about it, I get to a point where I say "to hell with it, it's never going to amount to anything, and it's time to put away childish things." It’s time to do what all my high school and college friends have done; lock into a long-term career and get somebody knocked up.
I look at our society's "model" of what it means to be a real man…heterosexual, married, with kids, making x amount of money, going to church, caring about football, planning for retirement, choosing sides in a political drama that's fucked on all sides, living in a society that values all the wrong things and makes less and less sense as time goes on...and it holds no value for me.
In an ideal world, I see myself as someone who built his own house on a few acres near a progressive metro area, has time for career and homesteading, does psychotherapy with a somatic / spiritual / existential / experiential / jungian focus, does music and gets some reimbursement (social interaction, money, travel) in exchange, working to build community in an increasingly isolated and dis-empowered world, supporting progressive / grass-roots causes, making friends, having the time and resources for travel (I’ve always wanted to see Europe), doing some side-line work in computer programming and real estate sales, making enough money to pay my bills and do the things I want in life, and being in a relationship with someone I care about a lot.
But instead, I sit here and say; I can't. That's a crazy dream. Somebody wouldn't approve. My family would disown me. People will think I'm strange. Maybe this is a fool's errand and I should just go get a business degree, buy a suit, join the rat race, keep up with the joneses, take what I can get and learn to like it.
Does anyone here have a calling? How did you find it? Did psychoactives help you in finding your life's mission? Did you have an experience of "following your bliss," no matter how unconventional, and being satisfied & successful? What was it like breaking free and jumping into a life that was entirely yours?
Thanks for your input!
_the_searcher_
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Justice_Fish
Fustice_Jish



Registered: 01/06/07
Posts: 2,652
Loc: CebèuQ
Last seen: 7 years, 3 months
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Yes Psychedelics help me, and still help me very much. At every comedown, I know what I did of my life, chapter by chapter.
But I don't know what to DO.
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kristofer
Oneironaut


Registered: 01/01/06
Posts: 230
Loc: Indianapolis
Last seen: 8 years, 1 month
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It looks like you'll have to slug it away in the real world till you can afford to get your spot o land and live the hippie dream. I'm right there with you though. You gotta play the game to get what you want. Just be smart about your money and key your eye on the prize. It won't take your entire life to buy your way out.
-------------------- dewbie dewbie dew
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WScott
´ ɑ `▽ ᑲᓇᑕ



Registered: 07/31/05
Posts: 5,713
Loc: Nacada
Last seen: 9 months, 15 days
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Re: What to do with life? [Re: kristofer]
#7650467 - 11/18/07 10:18 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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I've discussed with several people the idea of starting some sort of self-sustained community (vegetable farming, solar energy, etc.). I don't think you'd be strange for wanting that at all.. infact I think there is a want in a lot of people to have something in harmony with nature.. free of corporate logos and brand names.
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elbisivni
Registered: 10/01/06
Posts: 2,839
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Do your best.
You're not going to just wake up tomorrow and conquer the world. Formulate ideas and set goals, work towards them. Think twice about what you intend to do. There are many points between A & B, many small hurdles that may not be visible when looking at the big picture, but that you must see and overcome when encountered.
There are things you have to do to live and there are things you do that make life worth living, often they are not the same things, but as long as there are both you'll be alright.
-------------------- From dust you are made and to dust you shall return.
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machination
Stranger
Registered: 09/17/07
Posts: 705
Loc: Hringhorni
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emulate or create
"Don't you know Bad Boys move in silence or violence Take it from your highness (uh-huh)"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyiHWn2fo0o
-------------------- "Have you not learned that your word is bond? Yes, my word is bond and bond is life, I shall give my life, before my word shall fail."
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Lion
Decadent Flower Magnate



Registered: 09/20/05
Posts: 8,775
Last seen: 3 days, 20 hours
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Re: What to do with life? [Re: machination]
#7650738 - 11/18/07 12:06 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
machination said: emulate or create
"Don't you know Bad Boys move in silence or violence Take it from your highness (uh-huh)"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyiHWn2fo0o
solid advice
-------------------- “Strengthened by contemplation and study, I will not fear my passions like a coward. My body I will give to pleasures, to diversions that I’ve dreamed of, to the most daring erotic desires, to the lustful impulses of my blood, without any fear at all, for whenever I will— and I will have the will, strengthened as I’ll be with contemplation and study— at the crucial moments I’ll recover my spirit as was before: ascetic.”
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Hyper_Panda_GO
Team Action!


Registered: 05/28/06
Posts: 9,720
Last seen: 10 years, 8 months
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Nothing
-------------------- There is no valid reason you should be reading this
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Grok
Has Been a Bad Boy



Registered: 12/03/03
Posts: 1,262
Loc: Greener Pastures
Last seen: 9 years, 4 months
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I feel for you man. Living conventionally (Rx Life as it is) isn't for me either and there is a lot of pressure to join the rank and file. More than I even knew...I quit going to school after realizing that it wasn't going to make my dreams come true, and planned to basically travel around and turn people on to psychedelics (my calling/passion), among other things. Really I didn't have a plan at all actually, I was just going to head out and take whatever came my way, and for a short time many things did come my way and I was having a hell of time. I came out of the proverbial closet about this to my family and they thought I'd totally lost it, and did everything they could to stop me, including having me arrested for allegedly manufacturing DMT. Fuckered my plans all up and I still have about a year of probation. Which makes the rank and file almost seem attractive.
Every path is a compromise of some sort, but if you don't follow your dreams, you may pass up more than you could have imagined. Do what you've gotta do and don't look back man! Don't be restrained by other people's expectations.
And yeah, psychedelics can be very insightful in regards to pursuing what will bring you happiness.
-------------------- Entropy is increasing. To send me a PM, go to my journal
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Hyper_Panda_GO
Team Action!


Registered: 05/28/06
Posts: 9,720
Last seen: 10 years, 8 months
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Re: What to do with life? [Re: Grok]
#7654515 - 11/19/07 12:22 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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If you're ever in LOng Beach feel free to turn me onto psychedelics any time
-------------------- There is no valid reason you should be reading this
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Mastamike1118


Registered: 03/29/07
Posts: 2,010
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just remember as soon as you live for someone else youve cut your potential and life right at the base...
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ChiefGreenLeaf

Registered: 01/11/07
Posts: 1,596
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Who here thinks this sounds like Bartleby the scrivner? Just do something you love. Once you love, yourself, your job, your life, everything else will fall into place.
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PDU
travel kid vs.amerika



Registered: 12/03/02
Posts: 10,675
Loc: beautiful BC
Last seen: 8 years, 4 months
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ChiefGreenLeaf -
i feel the same way as you, but am in my early 20's. I feel alot of pressure and expectations (although my parents understand and accept me, so its not that bad.).. Im completely lost in finding a sustainable future.
After loafing around for the past few years, i am considering a path as a mountain guide, which will be a precursor to my "hippie dream."
-------------------- GO OUTSIDE.
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