Is having goals in life…good? | Partum
Hear me out okay. The journey…the journey is more pleasing than the destination. I know right, what the fuck?
A goal, an achievement seems like an oasis in the middle of our dessert, dust, and sand-filled lives. Dust and sand being stupid media and mindless time-fillers. And “the goal”, the one plan (or more I guess) we made up for ourselves, shines in the middle of that like an oasis. Perhaps an oasis far away, perhaps an oasis so distant you’re not sure it isn’t just a fata morgana, a plan you’re not sure is really achievable at all, making it just an unreal mirage in a deserted plain. Alright, now let’s say you get to your oasis. It is established, it’s existence is achievable, you come in there aching and thirsty, seeking water. You drink. Okay.
What now? Where to go? Get it yet? Suddenly you realize, you’re still in a bloody desert, with nothing but dust all around you. The water reserves you Currently have are limited, and there’s no way you can survive here for long. The sense of accomplishment fades away, as you start seeing more habitable land rising on the horizon.
The neverending chase
Mark in his book The Subtle art of not giving a fuck put it quite nicely, life is a never-ending cycle of problem-solving until you die (and I’d like to add you’re still a problem yourself for your loved ones, right until you start rotting, as they have to bury/burn your carcass and do all that stuff we do for dead people). You get a nice house, now you have to take care of it. You have a bunch of kids, now you have to indoctrinate them to Jesus, otherwise, they’ll turn out to be homicidal weed-smoking maniacs. Live together with your family. Great. Now you all have to put up with each other’s shit. And so on. He really did explain the mentality quite well. And that’s life for ya. It ain’t bad, just don’t expect to reach a milestone and feel a sense of closure. Ever. You won’t. You get closure when they close your coffin when you can’t do anything anymore. Until that, you have to. And you will want to. If you’re not like 10 years old, you’ll know what it feels like already, it doesn’t have to be a big milestone or a goal, maybe just the fact you finished school or a particular grade. You look at it with the lenses of nostalgia, you kinda miss it, but you hated it while you were still pursuing your goal, while you were pursuing what you are and where you are now. The journey to where you are now was a great and fun one, at least mostly, and perhaps even a greater journey or a part of a journey lays ahead. Realize that and be content, about as much as you can be in life.
Personal shit
People close to me know I’m very objective-driven, but that’s just so that I have something concrete to look forward to. It’s like right now I’m at a point of life where I need decent ground to plant seeds, seeds which grow to be plants, plants that I still gotta take care of. That’s my sense of it all.
