Is Life Worth Living? A Logical View: Everything around us that can breathe is alive. We look around in our environment and find many such things that may not look alive but in fact, they are breathing and living just like human beings. But what makes humans different from living such a stationary and meaningless life? It is their mental abilities and social interactions that make the life worth living.
Unlike animals and plants, we have families, friends, hobbies, jobs, faiths, games and many other such worldly and spiritual possessions that make our lives meaningful. This world is a huge gathering of people having different interests, personalities, traits, likes, and dislikes.
No two people in the world may have identical physical or mental capabilities. We all think differently and behave differently. In the same way, our reasons for making life worth living are also different from each other. Some people find happiness in family, friends, and children, while others with the same social set up may not be as happy as them.
Table of Content
Why people find life worth living?
There are four possible answers to why people find life worth living.
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Religion:
Millions of people around the world regard religious beliefs and reasons as their purpose to live.
Their spiritual attachments and connections with various faiths and religions provide them with the reasons why life is worth living.
It reassures them about the underlying motives of their being born and why they have been sent to the world. Whether it is Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism or any other religion, faith dictates how people behave towards the question of being alive.
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To be happy:
Many people find solace in the fact that life is beautiful if and when we remain contented and happy. Increasing happiness in our lives and in the lives of others is the best method of making life fulfilling and enriched.
It keeps you away from depression and despair and makes life a miraculous journey full of enjoyment and satisfaction.
One way or another we all striving hard and struggling towards gaining happiness for ourselves and our loved ones.
The core of finding happiness may differ from person to person. For example, some may be happy with the food, some with money, some with friends while some with any other form of worldly possession. It all depends on your needs and requirements.
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Work, play, and love:
This third viewpoint suggests that people find life worth living because of the feeling of love or being loved, their jobs or work life or simply to enjoy and play around.
Love is a generalized term which could mean loving your parents, kids, family members, friends, neighbors or any other romantic interest.
Work would include all earning and non-earning activities that provide you satisfaction and purpose of life. The field of play will include anything that makes you enjoy life. Whether its media, entertainment, music, reading, sports or any other source of happiness.
Logical Reasons for living:
So if we sum up the reasons that make life purposeful and worth living we can relate it to the following activities:
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Creations of things:
This creativity may be towards writing, drawings, paintings, making music or other artistry or scientific creations. This may also mean producing goods and service for business purposes as well.
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Making and maintaining Relationships:
Being social in the life with other people is very important. No human being can survive in life in isolation. Friends, family, coworkers, community members, neighbors we have to interact with everyone and make relations work.
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Help others:
Life can be made worth living if we use it to help others. We must provide a helping hand to all those who need it.
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Accomplishing goals:
By setting small and large goals and objectives for ourselves, we define a purpose for life. This purpose persuades to live a life without feeling meaningless and despaired. It directs us to towards striving hard to accomplish our goals and objectives.
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Innovating and improving:
If we devote our lives towards the betterment of humanity and struggle towards bringing improvements and innovations in the lives of others are ourselves, the value of living will increase very much. It will give significance to your existence in the society and in the world at large.
These were few but effective ways of adding some worthiness to your life. We all come in this world for a limited time period and using this limited time for good living is essential for a healthy and successful life.
There are various ways of making your life worth living. Following them or abandoning them is your own free will and choice. The art of making our lives worthy of living is in our own hands and not dependent on others.
What To Do When You Feel There Is No Hope?
Life is a long journey of ups and downs. No one in this world can guarantee to live a life without any hiccups or bumps. Smooth is one word that cannot be associated with us for a lifelong time period. When we live in this world, we have to be part of a society and community.
Humans cannot live in isolation. They need to interact not only with other individuals but also with their environment. These are factors that are not under our own control and can dictate the way we mold our lives. Although the external factors of our lives are uncontrollable, we do have the leverage of changing or adapting the way we run our own lives.
Having positivity in life and leading it to an optimistic approach is a must. Those who feel stressed, depressed or lost when they face some hardships or shortfalls in life must learn to get back up and start from the beginning. We should not live in a world where we see no hope.
In fact, in many faiths and religions, hopelessness is a sinful act and people are preached to stay away from it at all costs.
But the real question is what to do when there is no hope in life? How does one cope with the despair of a loss or failure? What should be the ways we incorporate positively and hopefulness in our lives?
To find some answers let us look at the discussion below. There is not the hard and fast rule of keeping hopelessness out of our lives, but there are some ways we can try and remain positive about the happenings and surroundings of our lives. Focusing on these few aspects we can remain optimistic and learn what to do when we feel there is no hope.
Health is wealth:
One of the very well-known ways of dealing with your despair is to think about your health and physical wellbeing. According to many psychological and mental experts, if you do not have a problem with your health, you actually do not have a problem at all in life. Death is inevitable. Health is most certainly one of the most valuable assets we have.
Once lost it cannot be regained easily. Other factors like money, relationships, and worldly possessions become less important if we are not in good health to use them or enjoy them. If there is no physical strength we would not be able to survive in life. So always cherish health and see it as a positive indicator of hope.
This is not the end:
Time is a great healer. There is always time to do more. There is always a tomorrow after today and a day after tomorrow after tomorrow. This is the way we should learn to live our lives. Do not let failures or losses from the past linger on in your life. Always look ahead to the time that is to come. Take every new day a new start, with new opportunities and better strengths. Do not let your past or present ruin your future with hopelessness.
Your inner power:
No matter how many hardships and failures you face, no matter how many losses you go through, no matter how difficult life seems to be, it is your inner potential and strength which will always be a part of you no matter what happens.
Environments can change, people can change, situations can change but what you have inside of you will always remain your own possession. It will depend upon your attitude and willpower how you utilize this potential for positive outcomes in your life.
The grass is not always greener on the other side:
Start looking at the nothings with a different perspective. Instead of thinking about what you do not have, look at what you have. Take examples from others and see that there are worse people around you with greater miseries and hardships. Cherish what you have instead of sulking over what you do not have. Look at the situation from another frame of reference. Do not compare yourself with others. Look for things that could have been worst in a given scenario and how you have been saved from those worse situations.
Learn from your problems:
If you have undergone a bad patch in your life, if you are facing a failure or if you have lost something in life, try and get some positive learning out of this scenario. Think about the reasons why the negative occurred in your life and try and avoid them in times to come.
After the above discussion it can be pointed out, that whether to live with hope or without hope, it all depends on our own behavior and willpower.
What to do when you feel you are not moving on in your life anymore?
I am 25 years old and in these 25 years of my life, I have faced so many challenges and so many hardships. Sometimes I think why I am in this world? Why am I tolerating the people of this fake world? Why I am facing this depression? I feel depressed when I see my life seems meaningless day by day. But I am not alone in this world who thinks like this. There are so many people out there, who think the same thing. This world is made by people who won’t be happy to see you joyful. The only thing which I always realized in my life is that this life is meaningless and we are here without any reason. This world contains nothing and we are going to spend an endless time of our life here and after this long period of time, we are going to go away from this world empty handed. There is no value of our soul. We have trapped ourselves in earning more and more money for the sake of our luxuries and as we earn more money, our needs start to pile up. So all those times when you feel that you are stuck in life, don’t allow it to take the best out of you and pull you down.
Let it all Go; Live for Yourself:
We often feel that sometimes our life has gotten stuck between so many things. This is the point where we realize that we are the only helpers of ourselves. Just follow your heart and listen to the voice of your heart and let it all go. Just live for the sake of your dreams. Never lose hope, just be confident and face all the problems with bravery.
Be Your own Companion:
People are not going to do anything for you. They won’t be your helpers and you have to be your own sweet companion.
A person cannot get what he wants until he doesn’t work for it. People usually get stuck into their life when they face failure and this is also becoming the basic reason why they feel depressed. They also start seeking for sympathy forgetting that no one has time to peek into their life at all.
Therefore, be your own friend and sort out your troubles on your own. This won’t give you time to get stuck in life as you will have to wonder about for solutions to come out of the dilemmas.
Understand your Issues and Face Them:
We should try to understand all the issues related to our life. We should stay happy for the sake of our own happiness. Sometimes we face so much pain in our life due to different reasons.
But if we stop weeping over them and understand the core of all issues, then we can face them. In order to understand your issues, you need to change and we can be happy from within our soul as we will be our own strength.
Make Happiness your Priority:
This is the rule of life; we are going to stay in this world for the purpose of our happiness. Happiness is the basic need for every human being. Everyone wants happiness but no one really knows what it really is. Happiness isn’t a permanent state. It is a feeling that isn’t promising you a forever. One day you might feel down and the other day you might feel wonderful; life goes on this way. If we make happiness our priority, we will start living positively. We will love to stay away from negativity and people who spread it. Thus, if you feel stuck in life, start thinking positively so that you can be happy.
Be Confident:
We should stay confident to face the challenges of this world. Don’t just earn and live through life because that is what we all are doing these days. Be confident of what you want to do with your life and what you wish to achieve. For the purpose of achieving what you want to be confident when you are on the journey of pursuing your dreams so that you can live to the fullest and compete with the world also. Confidence drives you in the right direction. Remember, confidence is the key to success.
Life did not promise us to be a bed of roses. We need to understand that ups and downs are a part of it. Let your emotions flow free in a bad phase. However, don’t allow them to overpower you either. By all means, know when you need to stop and start being confident and happy for your own sake. If somebody leaves your life, you will be better if you will be your own companion.
How to make life purposeful and worth living again
Giving meaning to life means that we want to add purpose to our existence. Making life meaningful is like highlighting its significance. Many times in life we start feeling distressed and think that we are leading a life without any meaning.
This is the time when depression becomes a psychological disorder for us. We stop seeing any hope towards life. But how do we give meaning to life?
Should we continue living meaninglessly or should we try and make it turn towards a positive direction? The answer is definitely to make it turn. There is no specific method of giving meaning to life. It is not a science but an art of living. It is all about how we prefer to live.
Adding the factor of purpose:
The first thing that you need to do is find the purpose you are living. This can be the influence that you have on others or how your presence can make the different in someone’s life.
You need to analyze your strengths, abilities, and capabilities. You try and write down points for reinforcing them in a better way. Look at yourself and see what you have done and what you are doing and what is expected from you. Identify a strong purpose for your life.
Identify what is important:
Find out what is most important for your life. Look through various stages of your life and see what made a difference.
What were the things that made you happy and glad? What were the things that annoyed or frustrated you?
It is always better to write such things down and make lists. It gives the person a better picture of his thought process. Different things may be important for different people.
Some may like spending time with family, while others may cherish a sport or hobby. It all varies from person to person.
Go for what you like:
Once you have identified your significant liking, you need to list down the top few ones. Look at them and see which ones can you pursue. Always go for what you really feel strongly about.
Pursuing your own passions in life will automatically add the meaning, purpose and value to your life. It will become worth living.
Many people believe that pursuing a passion is different from earning a living. But the best way is to make your passion your profession. This way you can do what you like the most every day and even make money from it.
Enhance self-awareness:
Always look out for your own actions and reactions. Be critical of yourself. This allows you to evaluate your life and see where you can bring improvements and where you need to change directions.
It’s a self-correcting process that can make life more meaningful and goal-oriented.
Set goals:
This is the best way to add purpose to your life. Make small goals and objectives. Sometimes even on daily basis. This will provide you a reason to live every day and struggle towards achieving that goal.
It will also act as a morale booster and satisfaction multiplier when you attain those goals and objectives. In case you are unable to do so, the mind will persuade you to look into the reasons of failure and change or improve them.
Stay focused:
Do not set too many or vague goals. Try working on one or two goals at a time.
This will keep you focused and motivated. You will remain in control and would not lose direction during the goal setting process.
Love people:
Always love people around you. Cherish their presence and enjoy their company. This will not only add meaning to your life but also to their lives. It always best to give importance to people and not things.
Start helping others:
If you are having difficulty in finding a purpose, then start helping others. Once you will love the people around you, you will also start caring about their well-being.
Giving out in terms of money like donations and charities is a great way to feel satisfied and happy.
But this giving out should not remain restricted by financial donations only. You can also give other people your time, efforts and happy company.
These were few ways and means by which you can add meaning into your life. There is no hard and fast rule as to how you should follow this process. But remember to keep the people factor important in this struggle. Living for others or helping others around you is a big purpose of our lives. We cannot live in isolation and expect to get a meaning in our lives.
Life Lessons which makes you think if life is really worth living
Life never comes with an instruction package to tell you what and when to do. So, it’s all out in the open – you live and you learn. You learn life lessons both the easier and the harder ways. The sooner you know dark life lessons the better.
But being a good loser as well as a good winner basically helps out during your journey a tad bit more. There are occasions when our elders hand over jewels in the name of advice but we don’t bother making the most of them. And that is when we learn the same thing through the dark life lessons as life decides to teach us.
Our generation believes in experiencing everything for themselves rather than listening to what the wiser have to tell. Life is the best teacher, no doubt.
But if you learn the following dark life lessons, make sure you tie them with your heart and mind for the rest of your life so that you can live to the fullest without regrets and fears.
Be Wise Enough to Let Go:
One of the hardest and dark life lessons is letting go what isn’t meant for you. We panic too much over things and situations that don’t even require our mere attention let alone our sentiments.
We tie ourselves up to people and stuff that isn’t good enough for both our dignity and well-being.
When we let go, we heal and when we forgive we grow even more as a human.
The hardest part comes where one has to make peace with the inner demons while walking away from something not meant for oneself.
Our society usually makes it impossible for a person to carry on without collective approval regarding any particular action. There are times when social norms and traditional values limit us from doing what we most desire to do.
It’s necessary to learn to move on and do your thing without social approval each time.
You need to set your own limits and should be firm enough to be able to handle any nonsense that comes your way.
To further add to this is the gender discrimination that is so prevalent that it almost goes unnoticed now.
Do not be too Judgemental:
This is one of the hardest dark life lessons, that cannot be mastered and learned by all. Understanding the fact that you don’t need to be too judgemental all the time is hard to accept and put it in action. The time or space that you want to have for yourself is the same very space others yearn for too.
Not everything that isn’t your type or doesn’t match up to your level requires your approval or negation. We go way out of the line to make things difficult for people around us merely by passing out comments that are not meant to be.
We as humans find it almost impossible at times to behave neutrally and give others their due dignity and respect. Think about how would you feel if someone disapproves of something that you adore to do and then pass on that comment to the second person. Don’t judge because you cannot face the criticism as well.
Embrace Happiness:
This is one of the dark life lessons yet again. To be happy with your personality and being optimistic is a hard lesson to master. There are times when we feel things could not have gone worse than they already are.
You need to be modest enough to accept the fact that you are not the only one with issues and complications. The world was coping with it before and without you as well.
Relax and give yourself time to enjoy the little things in life – wave to school children in a bus, dance in the rain, help a blind man cross the road. You never know how much time you have on your hands.
Live your life so that in the end you can proudly claim you have no regrets. Be ready for major life and death situations. Unexpected hardships and complications at times help in shaping and molding us in better human beings. Yet another lesson – not everything unacceptable is meant to break you.
People assume a lot worse from certain situations than it really is in actual. Our perception regarding things and circumstances makes us either weak or strong – it is times like these when we encounter the person we really are. Be happy with your own self and don’t rely on people for it.
Once you hand over your happiness in someone else’s hands, they are going to drop it. They drop it every time, leaving you helpless.
Money won’t give you Happiness:
Another lesson that not many people learn from life is that money isn’t everything. Being self-sufficient with whatever you have tends to make one way happier than just money.
The secret to living a blissful and enriched life is learning to be happy with what you have yet to strive for better with every passing day. But this does not, in any case, mean that you make money your only goal.
The most beautiful of things in life cannot be bought with money which is known by everyone.
What you have today will not stay with you forever – be it money or anything bought with it. So, just live your life with contentment.
To be able to live to the fullest one requires being open enough to the lessons that come along during the journey of life. Every single day is a blessing and one should spend it the right way. Laugh away the small, worthless worries that try to weigh you down and hinder you from enjoying the wonders of life.
Forgive and above all forget – never pass out any harsh comment on anyone. You never know what the person is going through. Don’t just pass the phase of your dark life lessons but learn from them and make sure that you don’t make those mistakes again.
Above all – live and learn.
How To Make Every Day Count?
Each day when we wake up in the morning, a new day is waiting to be spent. You can use that day with a smile on your face or frown your way to the end at night.
To make every day count in your limited life duration, you need to remain happy by making differences in other’s lives and living your life to the fullest.
All this depends on us, how we want to spend our lives. It depends on the choices made us and the decisions that we make about various things.
We all know about mortality and that death is inevitable. So, it has already been established that this is a short life which we need to spend with positive emotions and sentiments.
Having positivity in your own self will make you a shining sun for the others around you as well.
Ways to make every day count:
Not all of us know this art of living. Knowing how to make every day count is a difficult process for many people around us. For this purpose, we have highlighted some of the basic ways of enhancing the meaningfulness and adding purpose to our lives.
Communicate and connect with others:
Although the importance of everything in the universe cannot be denied, making connections with humans around us is essential for living. You can adopt an isolated lifestyle. Persons who have lots of friends and love ones around them tend to be happier and satisfied with their life. Keeping in view this importance, we should try and strong bonds and connections with people around us. Listen to others, show some empathy and affection towards them and remain in touch for better life.
Inculcate positive thinking:
Being positive and optimistic towards life generally keeps you happy and satisfied. Do not get depressed on negative vibes and thoughts. Always look at the brighter side of the picture rather than highlighting the wrong issues.
Do not let small obstacles of hatred, failure or loss stop you from achieving your bigger goals in life.
Find your purpose:
Having a purpose gives you a reason to live. Life moves forward positively if you know you are working towards a purpose. Aimless lives are sad and gloomy.
If you cannot identify an existing purpose, try and develop a new one. Look ahead with more energy and enthusiasm.
Be visionary:
Look out for a vision and mission in life. Look far ahead and see where do you see yourself. Be proactive towards your surroundings instead of being reactive. Be visionary also calls for planning for the future and organizing yourself for the days to come.
Being brave:
Fear can be a great obstacle towards the achievement of our goals. Being afraid can keep us from struggling or moving towards our purpose or aim in life.
Do not get intimidated by such fears of the unknown. Be brave and courageous in whatever path you follow. Lead from the front with head held high.
Follow a balanced approach:
Start living a balanced life. You need to add various emotions and sentiments in your lives but with simple moderation. Too much of anything can be harmful.
Make your personality composed, reliable and consistent. Bring in the balance of fun, enjoyment, work, grief, and purpose.
Live the present:
Do not stress about the past and do not get anxious about the future. Giving them due importance focuses on what you have. Live every moment with full concentration and attention.
Add meditation to your life:
Sometimes we feel that we are leading an unimportant life without any purpose or goal. There are also times when we stand in front of tough choices we have to make or decisions we have to take.
In such situations, we get stressed and anxious. The best way is to meditate and relax.
Meditation allows to rejuvenate the energy and improve the thought process of human beings. A few minutes of such meditation every day can enhance your capabilities and abilities.
Add creativity to life:
If you have a feeling that you are living through a routine that is actively repeating itself again and again, then you need to add creativity to your life. Think out of the box and start doing things differently.
This will not only add variety to life but will also spice up your daily routine and break the boredom or redundancy.
Life is worth living the fullest when you forgive yourself and move on
From our childhood days, we are taught that forgiving someone is a good deed. Being forgiving is regarded as a pious and kind quality of great people in the world. It acts as an agent that relieves our personalities from the feelings of anger, rage, and revenge.
It sifts out the bitter emotions from our lives. If we hold bad feelings for someone within us, it is not only going to disturb us mentally but will also adversely affect our health and physical well-being.
Forgiving someone for their mistakes and wrong doings is a difficult job, but once you get to feel the satisfaction that you get afterward, it will become a cherished practice for you.
Forgiving yourself is very important:
Although developing a forgiving attitude towards others is vital but even more important is developing a sense of self-forgiveness. Most of us do not know how to forgive our own selves. The above situation we forgive others for their mistakes and wrong doings.
In self-forgiveness, we are the culprits of the wrong deeds and actions.
This might be something that we may have done in the past and now we need to get over it by forgiving our self for it. In more advanced terms this is a common psychological problem, where people blame themselves for some bad or unfortunate event in the past.
This thought is called self-condemnation. If this guilt or blame is held on to for prolonged periods of time, it may be fatal for an individual both physically and mentally. So what to do to get rid of this self-blame problem?
The answer is simple. Forgive yourself.
But how does one learn self-forgiveness? How to start the process of forgiveness?
Below are some simple guidelines to learn this unique process:
Look at the bigger picture:
The first thing you need to do is make yourself part of the bigger picture. Do not judge yourself in isolation. Look at your situation is part of this entire world.
Remind yourself these things every day:
- We all make mistakes.
- All of us commit wrong acts.
- We all deserve a second chance.
Look at this scenario in the perspective of your spiritual beliefs and religion as well. You will definitely find a reassurance of this act of forgiveness.
Look out for repairing the damages:
Analyze the situation and look at what went wrong. Find out what was the outcome of your wrong doings or mistake and can it be reversed or changed. If people were hurt or relationships were broken, try and bring people back together.
Let go of the past:
As much as forgiveness is important, forgetting what happened is also very critical. If you keep on lingering on to the past events and mishaps, moving forward will not be possible. The guilt from the past will actually ruin your present and future. You should learn to pay lesser attention to what happened and move on.
Develop and carry out a process:
- Make a ritual out of the process.
- Give yourself some time alone.
- Sit down and relax.
- Think about what happened.
- Write down your mistakes and reasons
- Feel the pain one last time
- Now stand up and forgive yourself.
- Reiterate the self-forgiveness again and again.
- Now forgive and forget
- Decide to move on.
Accepting your mistakes:
Accept your mistakes and problems. Do not try to fight out with others and yourself about the wrong doings. What has been done has been done. There is no point in crying over it now. Keeping reminding yourself that we all can go wrong one time or another.
Do not repeat:
Take vow not make the same mistakes again. Be strong and assertive towards yourself. Analyze what went wrong and why it went wrong. Make sure not commit the same blunders again. It will be a catalyst towards your self-forgiveness process. it will help reassure yourself that if you are forgiven, you will ensure that nothing goes wrong again. Avoiding the blame situations will be your top priority.
Final words:
These were some easy ways to give yourself a break and practice the art of self-forgiveness. The basic pattern of forgiving yourself remains the same but situations and mistakes vary from people to people. Forgiving someone is a hard task, but forgiving yourself is an even hard phenomenon that not all of us can master.
Next time you are stuck with some guilt from the past that would not let you sleep or relax and become a real mind boggler, try out these methods of self-forgiveness. They are guaranteed to bring you at peace with your inner self and help you find the solace and calmness that you are looking for.
Concluding words:
It is important that we make efforts towards making every day of our lives count.
Living a dull and depressed life for long periods can lead to severe mental and psychological disorders. So we need to add meaning to our lives and enjoy it to fullest.
It is a short journey we need to make it a memorable one and realize that life is beautiful. Truth is you can be happy right now. Just trust the universe. Say you have to go to this place to get to where you wanted and you will be there one day. Just enjoy the journey and live life to the fullest.