I was driving into Cardiff's Town Centre to meet my Dad for some food, as a depression sufferer I am prone to 'dips' in my mood, and at this point I happened to be right in the middle of one of my 'dips'.
I was in the middle of moaning to my girlfriend (something she has become accustomed to) about life and its monotony.
Making the point that all I have done in my life is conform to society and that there has been no real choice involved in this, I have simply followed the same routine that many other people have followed and not necessarily the route I wanted to follow, and definitely not the route I had in mind when I was growing up and planning my life.
I said something along the lines of "All I do is drive this route back and forth everyday, do the same job everyday and spend my life with money troubles" to which my girlfriend replied "That's just reality".
This sparked a wave of thought, is this reality? No not in my opinion.
Reality is completely different for everyone in the world and your reality should always be what YOU choose it to be and not something that has effectively been chosen for you by the patterns in which modern society lives.
I realized this because I thought to myself if when we all entered this world we were given options of where we wanted to start our lives I definitely wouldn't have said "Yep, pop me in Cardiff, forget all those beautiful exotic places, Cardiff is fine for me", but because I was born here and have lived here for each of my 20 years on this earth, moving to somewhere I actually want to live doesn't feel like an option, but of course it is! This train of thought continued deeper and deeper, and I started to think of life as one big holiday.
You are put on the earth for a period of time, and then you leave.
Bearing this in mind, I started to think 'If I went on holiday, would I just sit in the hotel everyday doing the same thing?' The answer of course is no.
So why am I spending my life doing this? I have no answer for that one...
I guess the point I'm trying to make is that you are not trapped in a certain existence simply because of the cards you have been dealt.
If you're happy with the reality of your existence then that's great! If you aren't then change it, I know I will be...
Ever since I can remember I have always had an idea of what my life would be like or rather what is SHOULD be like...
Grow up, get a job, meet a partner, get married, get a car and a house, have a child, support my family until an old age, retire and then finally die.
That to me sums up a pretty average existence, and while that may seem OK, it has nothing exciting in it for me, nothing for me to be remembered by and no story's for me to tell when I'm an old man.
I know many people who have lived this life and are very happy but I can't help but question could they have been happier? I think in most cases the answer would be yes.
Now I'm not religious and don't believe in the afterlife, I asked myself the question 'If I were to live the 'average mans existence' that I have written above, would I be able to look back over my life and say I was happy and that I gave it my all?' No I would not.
And that is a thought I cannot live with.
I have always been prone to these sort of thoughts, and have always craved travel and adventure.
The response of a lot of people when I bore them with the contents above when we are talking is "Well this is reality", "Life isn't a fairytale" etc.
These are the typical responses of the 'average person' who has let the monotony of everyday day life take away their sense of adventure.
I say that reality cannot be defined, as I said above reality is completely different for every person on this earth.
All I know is, when I look back over the reality of my life I want to know that I left no stone unturned and crammed in as much as I possibly could into my small existence.
I was in the middle of moaning to my girlfriend (something she has become accustomed to) about life and its monotony.
Making the point that all I have done in my life is conform to society and that there has been no real choice involved in this, I have simply followed the same routine that many other people have followed and not necessarily the route I wanted to follow, and definitely not the route I had in mind when I was growing up and planning my life.
I said something along the lines of "All I do is drive this route back and forth everyday, do the same job everyday and spend my life with money troubles" to which my girlfriend replied "That's just reality".
This sparked a wave of thought, is this reality? No not in my opinion.
Reality is completely different for everyone in the world and your reality should always be what YOU choose it to be and not something that has effectively been chosen for you by the patterns in which modern society lives.
I realized this because I thought to myself if when we all entered this world we were given options of where we wanted to start our lives I definitely wouldn't have said "Yep, pop me in Cardiff, forget all those beautiful exotic places, Cardiff is fine for me", but because I was born here and have lived here for each of my 20 years on this earth, moving to somewhere I actually want to live doesn't feel like an option, but of course it is! This train of thought continued deeper and deeper, and I started to think of life as one big holiday.
You are put on the earth for a period of time, and then you leave.
Bearing this in mind, I started to think 'If I went on holiday, would I just sit in the hotel everyday doing the same thing?' The answer of course is no.
So why am I spending my life doing this? I have no answer for that one...
I guess the point I'm trying to make is that you are not trapped in a certain existence simply because of the cards you have been dealt.
If you're happy with the reality of your existence then that's great! If you aren't then change it, I know I will be...
Ever since I can remember I have always had an idea of what my life would be like or rather what is SHOULD be like...
Grow up, get a job, meet a partner, get married, get a car and a house, have a child, support my family until an old age, retire and then finally die.
That to me sums up a pretty average existence, and while that may seem OK, it has nothing exciting in it for me, nothing for me to be remembered by and no story's for me to tell when I'm an old man.
I know many people who have lived this life and are very happy but I can't help but question could they have been happier? I think in most cases the answer would be yes.
Now I'm not religious and don't believe in the afterlife, I asked myself the question 'If I were to live the 'average mans existence' that I have written above, would I be able to look back over my life and say I was happy and that I gave it my all?' No I would not.
And that is a thought I cannot live with.
I have always been prone to these sort of thoughts, and have always craved travel and adventure.
The response of a lot of people when I bore them with the contents above when we are talking is "Well this is reality", "Life isn't a fairytale" etc.
These are the typical responses of the 'average person' who has let the monotony of everyday day life take away their sense of adventure.
I say that reality cannot be defined, as I said above reality is completely different for every person on this earth.
All I know is, when I look back over the reality of my life I want to know that I left no stone unturned and crammed in as much as I possibly could into my small existence.
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