How can we live a better life?
My life isn’t perfect and I’m presuming neither is yours. As an ignorant 26-year-old, I can’t really say how we can live better but there are a few things I do to ensure happiness (even through the darkest of days). When I ask myself questions in this manner, I appreciate what I have around me. Whether that’s materialism or family and friends. It also makes me think, who the heck I am to give unsolicited advice on the internet? Despite this, every person’s experiences shape them into the unique individuals they are. If you're willing to listen to even the most average of people, you're likely to learn something from anyone.
Our lives were way simpler in the days of adolescence without the need to work, pay bills, have families, and world affairs. And that’s exactly how it should be, children shouldn't have to bear any responsibilities. Unless you’ve had a difficult upbringing, the question of how to live better wouldn’t cross your mind. Knowing that our younger selves were content with the bare minimum, there are lessons we must take and apply to our lives now.
Contentment
That’s what we want right? The ability to feel contentment with what we have, it’s not easy, we know that we’re always left wanting more. We say we’ll be fine when we achieve our goals, but it never pans out that way. As a kid, we have the greatest imagination and work with what we’ve got. Of course, we always wanted the next best toy when we saw it in the shops or in an advert. Our innocent minds were focused on enjoying the time we could spend playing, it wasn’t until we learned that there's much more in the world not within our grasp, that we became restless.
The resolve is simple, remind yourself that you will never be content for as long as you wish for more. It’s human nature to compare and it’s even harder to stop now that we have access to social media. Everyone and anyone can post updates on their lives, celebrities parading their extravagant lifestyles, and advertisements pestering you to take action. We have no time to breathe when we pick up our phones, I mean how can we if we’re constantly consuming. It’s difficult enough to be productive day to day, we’re just adding to the difficulty. The consummation of digital data is the death of us, how can we achieve contentment when our consumption levels are only increasing?
Focus on what makes you happy
There are a handful of activities that pique my interest, they include reading, running, football, and spending time with family and friends. For me, it’s as simple as staying committed to do everything I love. Then again, if you don’t have hobbies to turn to outside of compulsory tasks, you won't have the capability to commit. Unfortunately, I don’t believe in that, I just think you’re lazy. Of all the wonders in the world there must be at least 1 thing that brings you happiness. I’ve spoken about cancelling out the noise in a blog I wrote a few months ago. The same principle applies here. Not allowing your attention to divert to the mess of a world we live in will make this step far easier than getting caught up in trends.
The question ‘how can we live better?’ isn’t something we consciously think about but if you were asked ‘do you want to live a better life?’ there would definitely be something you would want to change or add. The key takeaway from today is to remember to do the things you love and double down on them. You have a life to live so make it a fulfilling one, take time outside of your mandatory routine to make a little effort in living a better life. Refuse compulsion, encourage change.