In a recent post, I wrote about how money is correlated to happiness, possibly up to a point. I also shared my thoughts on a world with less problems. Both of these are related to a single point. Happiness is overrated. And so are most emotions.
Emotions are just a tool
Humans are complex and emotions are a significant part of this complex. But with ever growing popularity, we are chasing emotions rather than chasing achievements, morality, values, spirituality, purpose.
It’s not that we all need to have some deep purpose in life. I’ve written how purpose has to be worked for rather than found. And some people will have a few big passions while others will have many small ones. The problem is the lack of desire for anything worthwhile.
Sure, people want these things. But they do not desire them. They are not willing to risk their happiness to get it. We are not willing to risk our comfort to get it.
Emotions are there to guide us and help us achieve things, yet we’ve simply turned them into a means of passing time. To beat boredom. We take our injections of emotion and do nothing with it.
Humans need direction or there will be 8 billion wandering souls
Religion has lost its power in most of the world. Patriotism, marriage and family life are probably at their lowest levels ever. While reducing these things may be good in combination with new purposes and spirituality, we are currently living in a life where purpose is difficult to gain.
I achieved a lot these past few months, and like every one time before it. the high of the achievements are followed by a trough. Because yet again, I have to find something new to chase. And sometimes, it feels like it is just easier to become like most – chasing the quick emotions. Having nothing big to fight for. Until you feel like you are rotting. Like all your talent is just being wasted.
It’s not about being a hero, it’s about a sense of accomplishment and relevancy
With so many of us, every achievement feels little. Everything gets forgotten too soon. We are in an era where things happen so fast, there is no reward for being up there. The chase feels too difficult for the reward. This is why happiness is overrated. Long-last happiness comes from knowing that what you have done has helped someone in the long-term. That people remember. Right now, we are all using each other for a short burst of emotions. Of happiness, of fulfillment, of pain and pleasure. There are no long-term bonds being created.
What is the answer?
Forget the scope of the world. Forget the 8 billion people. Find your community. Be relevant within it. Have your morals, be trustworthy within it, make your word mean something to those that deserve it. The world is big but it doesn’t have to be. Small communities is what will bring people back together. We are lucky in that a community is no longer fixed to a specific location.
Make your tribe of people from across the world and become a beacon of inspiration there. Don’t worry about the emotions that come and go. Just use them as a tool to chase new purposes in your life and help your peers do the same. Challenge and push ambition.
