Every morning I wake up, brush my teeth, check social media, eat food, watch a video on Youtube - what does it all mean? It means I’ve become comfortable enough with who I am to relax and absorb. My philosophy of life is simple, clean, easy and based on 19 years of experience:
Life is more than just existing. The purpose isn’t the same for all of us but there is one.
Freedom isn’t what we think it is.
There is only beauty.
There is always something. Never nothing.
It happens for a reason and if it’s meant to be it will.
I truly believe in my philosophy. I don’t have a reason not too. This is my life and while one may look at it as boring or dull, I find it relaxing and thought provoking. We have a purpose, perhaps mine is to relax. I’ve spent most of life busy - never stopping to smell the roses. I’ve come a point where I need to breathe. While I don’t foresee this being the end of my life, no one truly knows their expiration date. If it was my time tomorrow, I’d say my purpose was to know what it’s like to give back but to remember what it means to be me. Perhaps the person reading this doesn’t have the same purpose - you could be meant to mentor someone or cure cancer. However, I’ve done great things. I’ve won awards, been offered a Tedtalk, had a publisher contact me, but none of it matters anymore. I was meant to learn from those I worked with and then achieve happiness. I think I haven’t quite finished. I still have a purpose to fulfill later in my life, no doubt but for now, I believe I’m supposed to know what it means to take care of myself first.
I am not free. I don’t believe this is a crazy game of Sims and we’re all being controlled, but none of us are free. If we were free by the dictionary definition then we would be able to act however we seem fit. But, we can’t or don’t or won’t. We follow rules, regulations, and unspoken societal traditions. If we knew what freedom was, we’d take advantage of it. There wouldn’t be half as many angry people nor would there be gender roles or stereotypes. We are free to be ourselves within the limits set by tradition. As tradition is trying to change, we revolt with confusion, anger and lack of communication. Regardless of how much we want to be live differently, we will always have a stereotype we follow. Whether it’s true to us or not, that’s where the question of freedom comes to play. If it is us, then we had the power to be free and ignore the stereotype. However, if it not true, then we simply chose an option based on the box we check in life. Freedom isn’t nearly as free as we think. We only take from what we know and every once in awhile we might step out but we always come back in.
Life is beauty. We may not know how to be outside of the status quo or have all the same purpose but we are all beautiful. There’s no reason to use a word as vulgar as ugly. Beauty isn’t in the eye of the beholder, it’s in the way a person has yellow teeth and in the way we all happen to get pimples and split ends. It’s the way life ages us and mold us. The way life puts us in the situation where we happen to be a rose growing in the sidewalk and in the way we happen to just be another building in a concrete jungle. Regardless of where we end of up or what the magazines say, beauty is in us. We have something different. We have a birthmark, we have a scar, or we have a perfect shaped nose - the fact of it is, we have something unique. Being unique is beautiful.
This all builds up and adds up to something. The glass can never be empty. There will always be something. If there’s no water, at least there’s air. If the air is gone too - well you have a glass. I don’t think there can ever be nothing. Perhaps science or math would prove me wrong but why not see things for what they are worth - something. Even if it’s a tiny amount, there is always an amount. It could be less than a drop of water but there is water and water has chemicals and can be broken down into more than just the basic title of water. Just as we can be more than nothing, for we are always human. Humans can be broken down into scientific terms of parts, chemicals and emotions or social movements, ideas and art. One thing humans can never be is, nothing.
The last part of my philosophy is the easiest. Things happen for a reason and if it’s meant to be it will be. I was meant to write this paper so I could think about myself and understand myself. I was meant to transfer into UWS because I was meant to be happy. My Uncle Tom was meant to die before I saw him that evening because he finally fulfilled his purpose. My relationship wasn't meant to be, which is why we both now have the opportunity to grow in the direction best suited for our individual futures. There is nothing that can’t be explained and if you can’t explain it, then you don’t know the whole story. It happened and was supposed to happen. It doesn’t always make us happy and it can hurt, but it was meant to happen to us.
My philosophy is different. It’s shaped by loss, independance, love, growth, pain and anger. It’s brought about after not understanding what my life means. I’ve thought about my philosophy before and while it may not make sense to others, it may apply to you.
