Everyone has standards. Standards for the job they want, car they want, clothes they want, significant other they want...
The list goes on and on. Most of the time, these standards we set are pretty high. After all, what person doesn't dream for the best?
Yet often times we stop, look longingly at these standards, and think "these are pretty incredible demands." Yes, but again, this is what we truly want from our lives.
After a brief moment of reflection, we either carry on, or lower our standards. We settle for less, something that doesn't bring us complete joy, but just a little unsatisfying piece of it. Ever buy something from a store you didn't completely like 100%? I have, and it's a horrible feeling. I come home and think, "wow, I settled for this?" It's the same with our standards. One day, years in the future we'll look back and think, "wow, I settled for this? What happened to what I wanted? What happened to my standards?"
Turns out somewhere along the way, we lowered our standards because we perceived them to be unattainable. But the fault doesn't lie in the standards, but rather in ourselves. Standards are high because they give us something to reach for; they're naturally unattainble...at the moment. Only through a process of change and growth can we satisfy those standards.
But change is hard. The easiest thing to do is to be average and live your life the way people expect you to live it. Change is hard because it requires that you alter habits you've had for years. So we don't change, and go through life settling for less, settling for that little sliver of joy when we could have so much more.
But this is nonsense. Some people think we should go through life taking the least painful route, like we're supposed to suffer a little bit each day. Like suffering is something noble. Again, horse manure. Suffering sucks. I don't think anyone wants to suffer, but it's glorified to an extent that we think we do. Instead, people should naturally want to take the most pleasurable route through life, the most rewarding path, and often times, this is the original path you set for yourself with those oh so unreachable standards. Or are they?
The easiest way to satisfy your standards for life is to apply these standards to yourself. Want to be respected? Accomplish things and build your reputation. Want a funny/smart/fit gf/bf? Become funny/smart/fit yourself. And so on.
Life isn't just "whatever happens" to us these few years on the planet. You don't have to sit there passively and suffer and silently fume at your friends for taking you places you really don't want to be at. You don't have to stifle your skills and creativity just because the people around you don't appreciate it. No, because now you have standards for yourself, and how you live your life.
You and you alone define what you want from life, and what you will strive to get from life. Not your friends, the TV, church, or anything else. So when you hand over that right to someone else, and end up somewhere less rewarding than your wildest dreams, then you're the only one to blame. I'm fairly confident anyone (reading this) can accomplish anything they want. No one can stop you except yourself. So now, you have a choice.
- inspired by pook
The list goes on and on. Most of the time, these standards we set are pretty high. After all, what person doesn't dream for the best?
Yet often times we stop, look longingly at these standards, and think "these are pretty incredible demands." Yes, but again, this is what we truly want from our lives.
After a brief moment of reflection, we either carry on, or lower our standards. We settle for less, something that doesn't bring us complete joy, but just a little unsatisfying piece of it. Ever buy something from a store you didn't completely like 100%? I have, and it's a horrible feeling. I come home and think, "wow, I settled for this?" It's the same with our standards. One day, years in the future we'll look back and think, "wow, I settled for this? What happened to what I wanted? What happened to my standards?"
Turns out somewhere along the way, we lowered our standards because we perceived them to be unattainable. But the fault doesn't lie in the standards, but rather in ourselves. Standards are high because they give us something to reach for; they're naturally unattainble...at the moment. Only through a process of change and growth can we satisfy those standards.
But change is hard. The easiest thing to do is to be average and live your life the way people expect you to live it. Change is hard because it requires that you alter habits you've had for years. So we don't change, and go through life settling for less, settling for that little sliver of joy when we could have so much more.
But this is nonsense. Some people think we should go through life taking the least painful route, like we're supposed to suffer a little bit each day. Like suffering is something noble. Again, horse manure. Suffering sucks. I don't think anyone wants to suffer, but it's glorified to an extent that we think we do. Instead, people should naturally want to take the most pleasurable route through life, the most rewarding path, and often times, this is the original path you set for yourself with those oh so unreachable standards. Or are they?
The easiest way to satisfy your standards for life is to apply these standards to yourself. Want to be respected? Accomplish things and build your reputation. Want a funny/smart/fit gf/bf? Become funny/smart/fit yourself. And so on.
Life isn't just "whatever happens" to us these few years on the planet. You don't have to sit there passively and suffer and silently fume at your friends for taking you places you really don't want to be at. You don't have to stifle your skills and creativity just because the people around you don't appreciate it. No, because now you have standards for yourself, and how you live your life.
You and you alone define what you want from life, and what you will strive to get from life. Not your friends, the TV, church, or anything else. So when you hand over that right to someone else, and end up somewhere less rewarding than your wildest dreams, then you're the only one to blame. I'm fairly confident anyone (reading this) can accomplish anything they want. No one can stop you except yourself. So now, you have a choice.
- inspired by pook
