What Are You Living For?

Exactly as the title says. Every once in a while (re: approximately every 6 and 1/4 days, if not more frequently), I seriously contemplate what I'm living for, and over the years, my answer becomes progressively more abysmal. At least, to my own logic. I find it slightly troubling that the only reason for living I find viable for myself is basically an extension of a damaged psychology. I feel like that’s actually probably really dangerous. But digressions.

I've been bombarded with the range of answers to this questions: you live for humanity, you live to make the world a better place, you live to make a single person's world a better place, you live for family, for love, for chocolate, for pizza, for dogs, cats, sunshine, you live for yourself, you live for no one, you live for whatever god you worship.

Sometimes I can live with these answers. Most of the time, I can't. Most of the time, it seems like trite bullshit to me. Because at the end of the day, I'm gone, and everyone else moves on.

And yes, I suppose I'm being very selfish and narcissistic. But there are 7 billion people in the world. I feel like anyone who has enough presence of mind to know better has to have a really good reason for living.

I want to know, what do you live for? What do you consider a life worth living? Who do you live for? Why do you persist? Or maybe, if you can, give me a good rationale for living without purpose. You guys seem a lot smarter than me, so maybe I can learn something new.

 

I live for the sound of ice scrapers on car windshields in the morning.

Okay, maybe I don't. I'm not sure I have a good answer for this.

 

I'm afraid I don't have an answer to this.

I live because I wake up every morning. Not necessarily because I want to.

In light of my grandmother's passing I guess I'm living to look out for my mother. My heart is seriously breaking for her tonight.

 

@rogue49 That used to be me! That used to be all I cared about, understanding the human condition, understanding nature, just knowing how everything fit together. I think it's still a part of me, but it's paled in recent years. Perhaps I should revisit it.

@RedSneaker I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother. But that's good, that you can be there for your mother.

@Street Pattern If you did, I would severely admire you. You would possibly become my new number one hero.

 

I don't know if you're being selfish or narcissistic, but i'm not sure you're answering your own question. Nearly all our reasons for living will be trite pointless bullshit once we are dead. Nobody else in my life will care nearly as much as I in regards to my aspiration to be a person that my family can rely on when they need help, or to fight for a world I can raise a child in, especially after I am dead and gone.

I think it's still very positive that you're still looking for a purpose for your own life. Am i misunderstanding? When you want to live "for" something, whether it is a person or an ideology or a value or an object, they all contain purpose. A reason for living beyond self-preservation. And if you continue to seek purpose, it seems inevitable that you will find it at some point or another. I hope you find your reason to "live for" in the responses here. You might instead find it within yourself, but the seeking itself is important. It's a great credit to yourself that you keep looking

 

Wow, you're like, on top that shit. I think I'm still at that part where I use my understanding of human nature to manipulate others. To be fair, I've only ever done it to their benefit--you'd be surprised how easy it is to manipulate people into opening up about their problems--but it's always been an outsider thing for me. I do a lot of observing rather than acting. I dunno, my understanding of human nature is largely because I keep myself distant from interpersonal interactions.

 

"I want something good to die for, to make it beautiful to live". Queens of the stone age.

 

I just got a new dog - leading up to that - I am dog dependent on a 21yr old dog with a dodgy ticker. I lost Morgan at 17 in August, and Mulan a mere 15 Dec 16th. I could envision my old boy going - I was mourning his death whilst he is still with me - but there is little logic in me. I thought it might be a jolly good idea if, when his time comes, we just went up the woods together with a bag of pills - and just watch the sun go down with me mate in me arms.
Then of course, you have to think about the mess and such, and I finally decided, if I could put mateys corpse on my back and learn to climb about 25ft up a tree to where a hunters hide/platform is, use a bin bag as a sleeping bag sort of thing - take me pills, stick a bag on me head for good measure - I wouldnt be a mess for some poor sod to stumble over, and I figured I would be mostly gone before spring.
Matey was depressed too. He knows what is coming, he was lonely and withdrawn - so we got a new friend for him. Her name is Peanut - but she does answer to Penis too. As you may imagine, thats led to some pretty low one liners. I have her for maybe 15 yrs. She will learn to help me - but before new years eve - I would have said I am living because I have a debt to the dog that has looked after me for 12 yrs - and because of fear of the mess the alternative would likely cause.

 

Tomorrow.

Never get tired of tomorrow.

 

It's a joke, but it's not. I live for challenges. I live for competition. I don't have to be the best (eh, not always) but I do have to kick someone's ass... even if it's my own.

Run times. One rep max. Shooting scores. World travel. Martial arts. Jumping out of planes. Getting promotions. Riding a motorcycle. Scuba diving.

Checking the block on a Real Man Task. Chalking up another Life Moment. Earning the next Swiss Army Human merit badge.

It isn't a delicate ballet: It's really ugly. There is a lot of failure involved, a lot of starting over again and again.

...

I will volunteer to do the things you won't so I can have something different to love to hear myself talk about at the bar. I will be uncomfortable to say I've seen things you haven't. I will be alone and tired to go places you never will.

"You" isn't a specific person, "you" is the majority of the human race that cherishes complacency over all else.

...

I graduated in the top ten of my college class... not because I was smart (I'm dumb as hell), but because I wanted to beat everybody.

 

I live for Plan9's tomes.

Technically we live to pass on DNA, just like everything else alive (except some viruses), so my 'Raison D'etre' has been and gone, the rest is just gravy.

 

I don't live for.
I live because.
Because I woke up this morning.
One day I won't, and that will be okay, too.
Until then, I will live because I woke up, because I'm still breathing.
I'll work, I'll love my husband, I'll fucking graduate some day, as long as I'm still breathing.
I will do the things I want, I will push myself to limits, but not "for"... "because."

 

I live because I don't want my children to suffer. Ever.

I recently retuned from the nut house. There, I met a woman who was going through an extremely hard time. She confided to me that her father had killed himself when she was just a kid. We both cried. The moment she finished, I realized we both received a great gift, right then. She needed to share her pain, and I needed to hear exactly what she said. A life changing moment for me.

 

Why am I living? It's my default setting.

Oh, the serious answer?
Because there is something awesome to seedotouchtastesmell every single day. There are so many things that I enjoy--why stop? More books to read, movies to see, places to go, people to connect with, animals to ooh over, sunsets to be drunk in. Music, especially live, and thrilling to the performance of it. The moon! I get excited and skip when I see an especially beautiful moon. And the constellations at Maple Lake. Listening to the sound of the waves at my cottage at night all summer. Hanging with the townies, listening to their POV's. I still want to snorkel on a beautiful reef again and go to Disneyland...and wow, Bali would be cool (For as long as I can remember I've wanted to go to Hawaii and Bali--have done one.)
I'm a goof and if I can elicit a smile or laugh--it makes me happy.
And there are the people I care for...their lives touch mine. It's rewarding.

Plus. Unlike here, I don't really know what is on the not-living side. It doesn't sound appealing or unappealing so "living" is a sure bet.

 

Witnessing, feeling, and lending a hand.