What is life about?

[franklynlb]

I've been told different things about what life is about lately as i try hard to recover from depression, but i don't get it. I'm basically medicated and trying hard to ignore my brain telling me things aren't getting better and the feeling of constant sadness in the back of everything i do, nice things just don't last enough to get a feeling of hapiness from em. So, is this what life is about? Carrying on even tho i feel something's not exactly right? I just don't get it...

 

[Mentalmick]

Happy people get to live and unhappy people get to exist. That's all I know about life. It's a hard thing to come to terms with knowing I will never feel happiness. I really don't understand life.

 

[Lostandlooking]

I've sometimes told myself I'm a human being having a human experience. Being self aware and having a self-reflective consciousness is a unique experience. Maybe that gives it some value. I mostly feel either sad, depressed, anxious or numb. The good stuff doesn't outweigh the bad stuff. Living is extremely difficult. But this is the uniquely human experience that I've got. It is what it is. Maybe, as a human I should see what it's like, for as long as possible, to live life and experience anything and everything I am capable of. Even if life feels like torture most of the time. (Am really trying myself but it's really difficult, this is not really an answer but maybe a starting point. At least for me. Hope you feel a bit better soon)

 

[Kramer]

Getting to the other side of the street...to ctb lol

 

[Weather]

This is what I have decided the answer is for me (which is not to say it's the answer for anyone else): Life is about taking care of others; we were put here to take care of each other. Doing what we can to ease others' burdens. Practicing empathy and compassion. My decision calculus is "will this help someone else more than it harms me?" I know this sounds like bullshit, but it's how I've chosen to conduct my life. Or at least the goal for how I conduct my life.

It doesn't help me to focus on myself. When I start ruminating, I do much worse. When I start thinking about what I'm missing, or what bad things have happened to me, I do much worse. When I think about what other people need, I do better. And I very much believe if more people would think about what others need, everyone would do better.

It does lead me to being disappointed in other people a lot because most people do not see the world or themselves or purpose this way. And I do get used a lot (especially professionally), which results in me quitting not just good jobs, but entire careers. And when I start thinking that others would be better off without me, it is difficult to fight that urge. It is what it is. But... I don't think life is about pleasing ourselves and finding our pleasure or happiness. Sorry Jeremy Bentham.

 

[Kat!]

We weren't necessarily meant to feel these complex emotions, we are in fact, a deviation from the norm.
Not depressed people, but people as a whole. If you do indeed subscribe to the theory of evolution, we gave a portion of our intellect and memorizing skills for things like socializing and language, as is apparent in chimps that they can do a wide range of functions, but they are unable to speak.
Things like anxiety, fears and phobias, were survival instincts. But now that we have no natural predators, they're just a near useless trait that's stuck in our DNA.
It is presumed that a pack, or multiple packs, of primates were kicked from their tribe, and so they roamed the savanna, acquiring these important distinctions over time, like said, language, socialization skills, among other things.

 

[Tired of existing]

Hmm, there is only one thing we all can be sure of.
All living beings eventually die.

Maybe there is no higher meaning behind all of it, we live and we die, that's the long and short of it.
Thus, your life is what you make of it in my humble opinion.
You make the best out of it with the talents you have in the time you have left or choose to have.
And then you die.

Still noone owes life anything, we were not asked to be born, we can leave anytime we want to cut the journey on this world short.

 

[_Kaira_]

Said it before. But to keep it short and sweet, biologically, we're here to pass on genetics via reproduction then die. Just like any other animal.

But our beautiful big brains gave us too much smarts and awareness, so sometimes anomalies are created, like us.

 

[Gaybonez]

I've been told different things about what life is about lately as i try hard to recover from depression, but i don't get it. I'm basically medicated and trying hard to ignore my brain telling me things aren't getting better and the feeling of constant sadness in the back of everything i do, nice things just don't last enough to get a feeling of hapiness from em. So, is this what life is about? Carrying on even tho i feel something's not exactly right? I just don't get it...

Living. It's up to you to decide if you want to. I used to be unmedicated and way worse than I am now mood wise. Now a days, meds and a lot of critical deep changed my thinking and I understand a lot more of my issues. However, I am worse in some ways today, because I clearly see certain disappointments I have of life in a clear view. I honestly wish I died when I last attempted suicide because life is really hard, but it's not that big of a deal and I enjoy life now so I'll stick it out for quite a while longer

 

[stygal]

For me life is about having felt a connection with or towards others and thus being able to share your experiences.
And of course finding a goal you can personally thrive or move towards.

There will always be ups and downs for me meaning it will be unlikely for me to be happy most of the time (that's just not how my brain is wired and lately I accepted that).

But having those two anchor points in my life is going to help me navigate into my (uncertain) future.

 

[KleinerWolf]

Imo life is about having fun, enjoying yourself (+-among others) depending on your needs

and

Reproduce if the environment is favourable (financial and other aspects)

 

[Deleted member 1465]

It's personal to you and no-one can answer for you. I do believe that means life is about choice, which is very appropriate for the quoted ethos of this forum.

From a deterministic viewpoint, the function of life is to sustain itself by propagation of the species. As a mammal, you exist to have offspring then survive long enough to ensure those offspring live long enough to have children too...et cetera.

From a more interpretive viewpoint, for some life is about experience, learning, forming bonds with others. There are those that believe life is thus a proving ground in which to learn enough to advance to something better. This is often the realm of religion or philosophy.

If we accept that both those approaches may or may not be true, life from a purely humanist point of view becomes about choice. You choose what to believe, you choose how to act, the responsibility becomes yours.

However, that said, it gets way more complicated. If it didn't, this place wouldn't exist. You can't choose to magic away mental health issues, trauma or chronic illness. You can't always choose to get out of poverty or difficult circumstances. Some things are beyond your control, even as you strive to actually control them.
That's when your choice is removed and that's when it all goes tits up and you wind up here, desperately attempting to re-assert that choice with one final act of compassion towards yourself.

I therefore think that life, regardless of personal ontological perspectives, is about choice and having the agency to be able to exercise that choice.

 

[Sherri]

Life is about working pay taxes and then die. That's why in some countries they are raising the age of retirement to 70. To make sure people don't enjoy their retirements.

 

[Symbiote]

Life is about choices, how you decide your fate and how fate decides for you in return. The decisions you make and the choices you make plays a part on how your life is. If your life feels uncontrolled by you or that life has made you miserable, then it's up to you to choose how to cope with it. We make choices both good and bad hoping for a favorable outcome. We gain outside perspective from others to influence our choices whether good or bad. We have the ability to follow the norms or forge our own path. We can be influenced by others or be the influencer. There are many followers in life, everyone trying to find the right way to live, whether through religion, social media, or family values, you can be all those or not.

Life is what you make of it. I rather own my life, make the decision to live or die and not let any outside influence tell me otherwise.

 

[BrokenBelt]

This is what I have decided the answer is for me (which is not to say it's the answer for anyone else

Living. It's up to you to decide if you want to.

It's personal to you and no-one can answer for you.

Those are my thoughts too. Life is about.... whatever you want it to be about.

I know that sounds like hippy-dippy Disney movie talk but if you think about it, that is what your life is about now already. You've 'decided' (decide is perhaps too strong a word) what your life is about without even really thinking about it. You make choices all the time, define yourself with your likes and dislikes, your actions and reactions. You are deciding, in effect, who you are at every moment of the day whether you know it or not. Once you realise that, you realise that is possible to change. We are more in control of ourselves than we realise, and we are more in control of our lives and our destinies than we allow ourselves to believe. It's not always easy but there's always possibility.

I know that I could get up right now, walk out the door and board a bus to the next town, the next city, the next country. Turn my back on all I currently know and start again - that is, if I chose. I choose not to. Knowing that it is me making those choices is very liberating. Lift your head and look up, your life is to live as you choose. That's not to say that choices don't come with consequences but that's another story! And besides, all choice comes with consequence, even the choice to do nothing.

 

[signifying nothing]

Back when I was thinking about what I wanted to do with my life, the most important thing was first of all to stop doing the things I didn't want to do.

 

[AutoTap]

Happy people get to live and unhappy people get to exist. That's all I know about life. It's a hard thing to come to terms with knowing I will never feel happiness. I really don't understand life.

Yeh you said it pretty damn well.

 

[Homecoming]

Life is all about praying, pleasing, satisfying, glorifying, and entertaining our psycopath, ignorant, and obiously eternally bored and pitiful, lonely piece of worse than sh!t "creator"!

 

[timf]

Life is a gift. It can be used wisely or foolishly. Those whose ambitions lead them to acquire money, fame, prominence, or power often reach the end of life asking themselves, "What it was all for?". Those who use their life to pursue sensation like drugs, alcohol, or sex, often find life shorter than they imagined as well as less satisfying.

There are those who have much of their life stolen from them by those who peddle deception. For this reason the pursuit of truth can be critical to keep one from being robbed.

I have found Christianity to be a valuable foundation of truth upon which to build a life that has both satisfaction and hope. Unfortunately there are so many deceivers and ignorant people making declarations both within and without Christianity, that it is difficult to cut through the baloney to find something of value.

Marcus Aurelius was a Roman Emperor who was not a Christian but a Stoic. He found meaning and purpose in life by adopting a life of virtue. One does not have to be a Christian to value truth or find satisfaction in life. However, his son was rather a disappointment.

If one is selecting a foundation upon which to build a life, it can be helpful to consider the intrinsic destructive nature we all have. A life of ease and comfort sounds ideal, but we have proven repeatedly throughout history that such conditions lead us into foolishness, delusions, pride, and weakness. It is almost as if we need obstacles to overcome in order to prevent our internal inclinations to lead us to misery.

Regardless of what religion or philosophy one chooses, a general principle might be that living to serve others tends to bring more happiness than living for and focused upon self.

There was a documentary about the guys who worked on the moon mission in the 1960s. Now older and looking back they all expressed regret that their work had distracted them from their families. They all wished that they had spent more time with the wives and children. From this sample, one might conclude that it is trough our investment with others that a real value from life is derived.