Are you really living?
By Naftali Urison, 21, Gauteng
Recently while attending a workshop, I came across a piece of advice that got me thinking. I would like to share this advice with you and expand on what I believe it means. The individual hosting the workshop opened their presentation with the line “If you don’t know what you’re living for, you haven’t yet lived.”
At the surface, this may seem obvious or even superficial. However, if you dive deep into what this line means, you find that it holds a critical piece of advice for how each and every one of us needs to live our lives.
If I were to ask you what the most important thing is to you, I could assure you that you would likely give an answer along the lines of wealth, wisdom, love, friends, etc. I agree, these are very important extras of life, but let us be real with ourselves for a moment. Life in itself is the most precious and essential thing we have. Nothing matters if we are not alive, so let us focus on life itself.
People often state that they want to live a life of meaning and purpose. This is true, an intrinsic trait of all human beings is that we want to have purpose and meaning in what we do. However, most of us are so busy ‘living’ that we don’t really take a moment to really think about what we are living for. In other words, we are so busy checking social media, playing games, partying, etc. that we aren’t taking time to reflect on our lives.
What the line “If you don’t know what you’re living for, you haven’t yet lived” is telling us that we need to take that time to reflect and consider where we are headed. Make an effort to find meaning and purpose in life. You never know what you might find.
I want to leave you off with some questions that I found helpful to me when I discovered meaning in my life when I began self-reflecting:
- Who are you?
- Why do you matter?
- What stands between you and happiness?
- What has the little voice inside your head been saying lately?
- What fascinates you?
- What is the difference between being alive and truly living?
- What would you regret not fully doing, being, or having in your life?
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Wow.
I was watching a series on Netflix a few months back and a man from France said, “You Americans live to work, we work to live”.
I think this applies to many, not just Americans. A lot of people are waking up everyday to go to work, whether or not that work may be their passion. But the art of living lies in those small moments where you can go out and eat amazing foods, engage in interesting conversations. Taking in that smell of rain or running so high up a hill you get to see the view of the city. The list is endless really.
Let’s just say that having a job is already life, but where do you want that job to take you, or what do you want it to give you? A chance to travel the world? A chance to relocate to the outskirts and sip on a cup of coffee while taking in the scent of nature. Now that’s living.
This was indeed a very thought provoking read.
Thank you for sharing Natfali