Sometimes many of us, at a particular point of life, feel we are lost and waste our time for unimportant things. In other words, we don’t have a goal which we want to reach. And this happens despite success in business and career.
So what is happening with us? You might have dream about something different and your dream didn’t come true… very often psychologists suggest that you remembered your childhood.
Just in childhood you can find answers to many questions. Try to remember what you enjoyed doing as a child. It is possible that your memories will make you feel the same. Even if those memories sometimes make you smile, they can help you realize more serious things. It is also important to remember why you gave up your dream. Maybe you were not self-confident and were afraid of failure. Or you didn’t have your parents support. You know, wise people advise : if you fell down, stand up and move ahead.
So, maybe it is that very moment to try? Go for it and remember: “you can do it”!
Sometimes people, in order to find their place in this world, and get rid of feeling empty and meaningless, go downshifting. This step is becoming more and more popular in the world. At this time of highly developed technology, when people are overloaded with information and work, it is very important just to stop and think about the way you are going. Then they sell their business and move to a remote village far from civilization.
Living for some time with no computers and mobiles, working hard in order to survive, and being in harmony with nature, they start hearing themselves at last, find their lost “me”. Some people keep leading this lifestyle, others come back, but change their jobs, working hours, having extra time for active rest with their families. They feel happy and contented.
Take Americans, for example. They are very proud that they can work hard and play hard, which is very important for those who leads a hectic life.
I, personally, am very found of the program for students “Work and Travel”. It allows young people not only to earn some money, but also travel round America. Firstly, they travel like independent tourists, not dependent on timetables and tourists routes. Secondly, spending time amongst locals, they have chance to learn English. Coming back home, they join language schools in order improve their English. They start realize the importance of speaking at least one foreign language. Without that it is impossible to be called an educated person. In 19th century, for example, traveling and knowledge of foreign languages (at least 2) were a part of education. As we see, it becomes essential nowadays too.
Recently, an idea has become popular, that everything is good that makes people happy. On the one hand it is true, but on the other hand… what if it is alcohol or, which is worse, drugs? They make people of a particular group happy too, however, can we call it happiness? It is doubtfully. Another thing is religion. Religion not in that sense that we are born with it and follow traditions of our forefathers, but when you give up all your big and small everyday joys and devote your life to God.
A lost person sometimes finds peace and quiet in a monastery. During staying there they lead ascetic way of life, praying, working hard, far from usual temptations. After that, they have to decide either to stay there for ever and become a monk or to come back to their previous life. Usually they return absolutely different people, who have different views of life, capable to make decisions and be responsible for their future life.
There are also many examples when people completely change their faith and join oter faith communities like Baptist or witnesses or Iegova. Is that betrayal? I don’t think so. Why not if to believe in theory that one can do whatever he likes if it makes him happy. It is interesting, what makes people change their faith dramatically, joining Muslim, Jewish, or Hindu communities? Maybe the same disappointments with life, incapability to find the right way and see their goal in life.
Apart from religion, people sometimes start writing poetry, or novels, or painting pictures. There are many examples of that. Take French painter Pol Gogen, for example. He was a successful businessman, a well-known person in particular circle, had a family and children. So, he was a pretty well-off man. But in spite of that he wasn’t happy. He kept feeling a lack of something. It was until he took a brush in his hand and started to paint. For the sake of his favorite activity, he abandoned everything and anybody and changed his life dramatically. He devoted the rest of his life to art. By the way, it was he, who started a new wave in painting – post-impressionism. Unfortunately, Gogen didn’t gain any fame during his life. But fame itself wasn’t important for him. What mattered to him was finding sense in his life – at last!
When Anton Chehov was asked why he, a successful and popular doctor, started writing stories, he answered that he was writing because he couldn’t help it… Interestingly, his medical practices he called “my wife”, and his passion for writing he called “my lover”.
Therefore, it is good when people meet their “lover” in time, when whey have enough time ahead in order to enjoy their favorite hobby. And it doesn’t matter either it is post-impressionism or folk primitivism.
As to young people who just graduated from school, they often find themselves at a crossroads, when they have to make very important decision which will effected their future. They find it difficult which university to go and which speciality to choose. In that case they go to any university, they feel like they wasted time.
Maybe it is a god idea to stop studying at that moment when you realized that you have chosen the wrong profession. Maybe you have to stop and think about your further action in order to find your way in life.
In USA, for example, voluntary service is very popular, such as Red Cross or Peace Corps. People who are uncertain about their future yet, but they want to be useful, instead of wasting time for gambling and having fun, join these organizations and work in not very developed countries, teaching English or providing medical service. When is more, they work free, and lead life the same as locals do. Such asceticism gives them a chance to compare their lives with those, who can’t afford to have even very small things. Volunteers start to appreciate what they have and that helps them find the right way in life…
For boys it is not bad to go to military service for a couple of years. Severe conditions make their characters stronger, they return home mature and ready for different experiences in life. I think this is useful for both – themselves and their country.
For me, personally, the best way to get on with my life would be traveling. If I appeared in such situation, I would take a gap year at university and went traveling round Europe, not staying in five-stars hotels, but like independent traveler , stating in cheap hostels or camp sites. There you can meet many interesting young people with the same problems as me. Their life stories, often very hard, make you do a lot of thinking.
As we see, there are many ways to find your sense of life. It is said, each person comes to this world with a particular mission. If you realize your mission – you are happy.
