[January 23, 2023] Aimlessness is not nothing. Aimlessness is bad. People find meaning in their lives by having a vision for their lives and taking responsibility for it; they have goals and ambitions. We can be bitter, hopeless, nihilistic, depressed, anxious, and likely to abuse various substances as an escape. Aimlessness can drill us into the ground quickly and in several ways.
“If you know the why, you can live any how.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
I’m suggesting that there is a way out of this, and the way is to confront that forthrightly and adopt responsibility in your own life and try to make the world a better place, and it is necessary to do that. If you don’t, then things will go badly.
The world is stacked against us because life is tough, and nature will eventually catch up and destroy us. Yes, some folks have it harder than others, and we all have it hard at some time in our lives. What’s the alternative? Try to struggle uphill because any other path will make things worse.
Find something in your life that’s so worthwhile doing that the fact that you are going to suffer is justifiable. Life’s rough. No doubt about it. If good luck comes your way, you should be grateful for it. And if happiness appears, then you can be grateful for that too.
What’s the best antidote for the discomforts of your life? You might say that the solution is comfort. A better antidote is something like an adventure. Begin by telling the truth, or at least not saying things you know to be false and let the consequences come as they may. Now that is a real adventure.
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Please read my books:
- “55 Rules for a Good Life,” on Amazon (link here).
“Our Longest Year in Iraq,” on Amazon (link here).
Self discipline is greatly underrated. But being aimless in your life is the bane for those who desire success. If you are given a handout or position of authority that is undeserved, you will fail and you will create unexpected animosity in those you lead. Leadership is an earned position.
All thumbs up on ur comment Army Cpt.
Without Self-discipline, You Will Fail!
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/without-selfdiscipline-yo_b_9163946
Self-discipline is the biggest stumbling block for most non-champions. The lack of it spawns aimlessness, indecision, procrastination, disorganization, confusion, and eventually the tendency to give up or quit.
Good point Lilly and thanks for the link to this article. Welcome aboard to Gen. Satterfield’s leadership website that prizes the pursuit of truth and responsibility as its aim. 😉
Welcome Lilly. Good comment.
“Feeling lost feels a lot like depression,” says Carolyn Ferreira, PsyD, a psychologist who helps people rebuild relationships and recover from trauma and addictions.
https://mosaicmedical.org/provider/carolyn-ferreira/
If you don’t know your purpose in life, you are like a rudderless ship at sea, buffeting this way and that way by capricious winds and waves. Unless you know and act on your purpose and put some direction in your actions, you stand little chance of living the optimistic, well-lived life you no doubt desire.
Leave your comfort zone and enter the learning zone, which is situated in between comfort and fear. It is in this learning zone that you can objectively evaluate what’s in front of you and decide on appropriate conduct. If you instead allow yourself to enter the fear zone, it’s too late. You will have already been taken over by your worst concerns. In the learning zone, you will have the confidence to replace fear with a “can-do” attitude.
Correct, but you guys are getting a little too philosophical for me.
Excellent article making me think.
Have an adventure. That is the antidote to aimlessness. Well first that means having a specific aim to target and going after it. Better than sitting on the beach and drinking a martini.
Actually a martini wouldn’t be so bad. But it’s get up and go to work anyway and find that by giving my work to others I get compensation and status. If you want to sit on your butt in the basement and whine about the world – like so many of the college snowflakes do – then don’t expect the world to get better. Get going. Work in a soup kitchen or something but push yourself. If you are aimless, I don’t feel sorry for you.
Our culture values striving, purpose, achievement, and accumulation. Tough.
Excellent article, short and to the point. So many aimless folks in the West these days and they beleive strongly that they are powerless to do anything of value. I guess if you believe that then you are powerless. How stupid. No guidance for them in schools except to “protest.” Our schools are a failure and we are doing nothing about it.
Janna, we think alike here. But I’m not the one to believe we all must think alike. It’s part of the social contract to peacefully negotiate with others to move us in the right direction.
RJ, If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking. Quote by US Army General George S. Patton
Good comment. But those “negotiations” don’t all go well.
Stupid is as stupid does. Do I need say more? 👀👀👀👀👀
So many aimless young folks out there and they latch onto weird cult-like causes that are rife with unworkable ideologies like the “green earth” movement that wants to destroy all humans as a solution. Duh.
So true!
Yusaf and JT, good to hear from you two again. I know that you’ve been some of the longest fans of Gen. Satterfield and his website. I just wanted to note that and to say thank you for your recommendation to get a copy of his newest book “55 Rules for a Good Life.” It has changed my life and for the positive. I hope everyone gets a copy and also leaves a comment on Amazon. Thanks.
Aimlessness or uncommittedness or wishlessness (Sanskrit apraṇihita अप्रणिहित) is a form of “concentration” in some schools of Buddhist meditation. The concept is particularly associated with the teachings of Thích Nhất Hạnh, who counts aimlessness as the third form of “concentration” or “Third Door of Liberation”. Just saying.