This past year, I said multiple times how incredibly happy I was with where my life had taken me. I had great friends, a job at a company I loved going to work for 40+ hours a week and a dog that I loved more than all of that. That being said, I got to a point where I was ready for the next step in my career and subsequently took it. I now work for one of 30 NBA teams and I absolutely love it, but reflecting on 2012, I know I'll get to a point where this stepping stone needs to be left behind. Why is it our satisfaction is only fleeting? I know we change constantly, so our goals must change, but I hate the idea that lasting satisfaction isn't really lasting. Can we ever be completely satisfied while still wanting more? Or are we constantly working to attain another level of satisfaction, like rescuing the elusive Princess Peach after those stupid Goomba's constantly evaded Mario's grasp? Maybe I need to make a point to think of satisfaction as a brief result, something concrete. A medal or cookie that you enjoy as you bask in your awesomeness of a job well done. It's the reward you get for finally accomplishing something, which should be good enough for me. So if you think of satisfaction as a tangible noun, it's great. You can attain it and keep it up on the shelf for as long as you want. If you think of it as a feeling, well, good luck trying to maintain it and major kudos if you do. Am I alone in these thoughts or have you been one of the lucky few who have actually had lasting satisfaction?
The way I see it is that there are standards and expectations of us at a particular time or place. Whether or not we have achieved previous goals to our satisfaction, there are new heights to be conquered.
ReplyDeleteIf standards are not met, then the new ones are higher than those before it. Surely this is a tough way to approach life as failure will erode one's ambition, but failure to act is failure guaranteed.
If you're truly going after your goals and becoming who you need to be to obtain them, then you'll be a better person who is more deserving than your former self. Doesn't your effort at least earn you the right to better things?
Regardless of the outcome, the results are better than being complacent or having regret.
It's all about doing what you know is best for your long term happiness and going after what you desire. Of course i'm not saying be selfish, but properly account the happiness of others into yours.
People keep saying to "live in the moment", well what it really means is relax for a bit and enjoy yourself when you have accomplished something.
We live in a society where we have such a thing called a mid-life crisis where we live out our dreams at an old age simply because we haven't had a fulfilling life; this happens because we're too focused on the short term pleasure. So take the "live in the moment" saying with a grain of salt.
If it's something you really want, go after it. Take the new job, move to a different city, or put your heart on the line even if you look like a blithering idiot. Sure the results may make it a bad decision, but in the long run you'll only think about the regret of what you did not do. And the longer you wait, the more you'll regret it.
But don't regret the decisions you make because they're what shapes you and at one point in your life that's exactly what you wanted. And you'll have become a better person for it, more apt to the future scenarios to come.
Regret is what keeps us from being satisfied. Live to be satisfied and take chances; then you may avoid regret. Live to avoid regret and you'll never take chances, resulting in more regret.
The lack of satisfaction you derive from the previously obtained success is the result of you becoming used to it, essentially adapting to your new obtained position.
ReplyDeleteWe derive pleasure from things as long as the experience is novel, but as people adapt to the experience, the novelty wears off. The pleasure is then replaced by comfort. Comfort is nice, but people want pleasure. And comfort isn't pleasure.
Due to adaptation, no matter how good your choices and how pleasureable the results, you still end up back where you started in terms of subjective experience.
The result of pleasure being turned into comfort creates disappointment.