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STOP WHATEVER YOU'RE DOING RIGHT NOW. Relax, calm down. Take in your surroundings. Listen to the hum of your computer, the cars outside your window, the beating of your own heart. Turn off the stream, the music, the television. Just think without distractions.
We, humans, tend to get so caught up in the moment that we forget to think about the simple things. But these things are far from simple, they are at the same time some of the most extraordinary phenomena imaginable. We too often focus on religion and reason, social status and position, grades and jobs, games and competitions. But, after some reflection, they're all superficial. Every last one of them.
Think about your very being. You have blood coursing through your body as you read this. Your brain is turning these pixels on the screen into words, ideas that carry meaning. Your heart continues to pump. Maybe your fingers are fiddling with something, your foot moving. You breathe without thinking, but now you are thinking about it. Your skin, hair, and nails are growing. You think, and think, and think. Never stopping from the womb to the grave.
Amazing how such a small organ can contain all of our thoughts, memories, and emotions.
The brain is truly wonderful. A collection of neurons and their connections, while appearing and sounding so underwhelming, encompasses the entirety of who we are. We think here, we store here, we feel here. From the bleakest depression to the greatest pleasure, this is the center of it all. It is truly miraculous. We come from nothing, the void before we are born as an independent (mostly) creature relying on instinct in 9 months. We slowly develop consciousness, rational thinking. We interact and learn from each other. We live, work, procreate. Then we die. But it is obviously this intermediary time in between where we exist at present. How are we, a collection of tiny particles, able to think, live, and love? How are we conscious?
The true answer to this is not an answer at all. Who cares? We, at best, live on this planet for less than 100 years. We spend all this time arguing, debating, disagreeing. We work and work and work. We sit in our basements and play games as we ask ourselves why we are discontent with your lots in life. We write long, drawn out blogs about how unmotivated we are. We try to one-up, to best, to win. We seek money, prestige, and attention. The end is still the same. Death. You are going to die. Why not spend time doing what you love, what makes you happy? Why not take risks and move out of your comfort zone? Is your time really spent well right now?
You live in this. Nothing you do matters here. At all.
I guess the goal of this blog is inspiration and motivation. Go out and do something. Meet new people, travel new places, learn new things. Lose some weight, improve your grades, whatever. We truly do live only once, for an extremely limited period. After that, I assume we return to a state like before we were born, as I am sure many on this site do as well. Make the most of it. Have fun.
Enjoy your life. Live it to the fullest.
+ Show Spoiler +I originally conceived of this blog when I learned that a common college application essay asks, "What word is most important to you, and why?" Immediately, "life" came to mind. It is both unapproachably broad and incredibly deep, but we all are experts on it. I wanted to write this to preserve some of my thoughs (this is by no means fully developed, I wrote it in 1hr with a dinner break) and to improve some of my writing because I recently realized that I enjoy the act and the result. If you have any constructive criticism to add, feel free! This is my first actual blog.
 
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I think your post is an oxymoron. Living life to the fullest, to me, is a highly disciplined regimen of austerity, suffering, and self-improvement. To what end? Probably nothing, but maybe something. But it is better for a small chance of accomplishing something truly meaningful than having no chance at all. Although you don't interpret the perspective you presented this way, thinking of myself as a small, mortal, and insignificant piece in the universe makes me want to sleep in, eat a fucking burger, masturbate, eat a fucking pie, watch some TV, go on facebook, eat some ice cream, and wait for myself to die. Does the fact that I'm going to die motivate me? No, it doesn't. It makes me want to sleep more and eat more because, well, I'm going to die. Am I wrong for wanting to indulge in hedonistic please every time I think of the meaning of my existence? I don't think so. What motivates me is the potential I have to live forever. Look at Newton, or Einstein. Not exclusive to influential scientists, look at Bruce Lee or Bill Gates. It isn't inevitable death that motivates me, but eternal life. Just my opinion. Thanks for your perspective.
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Hey, I entertain that opinion a lot too. If I end up as nothing, why does anything I do matter now? I thought about that a lot when I was, maybe not depressed, but certainly very unhappy with my life for about 2 years. My solution was that what I do now does affect your future, which is really all there is. I just want to be happy, as does everyone else. Although eating and masturbating are certainly pleasurable, they don't make you really happy and just act as wastes of time. I try to exhibit self-discipline too, but to be honest it's not a huge factor in my life. It's important to remember that life isn't about the end, it's about the journey there.
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Nice read. I would argue that doing things to the end of short-term pleasurable gain can be a positive thing if it increases your productivity and helps you relax; as long as it doesn't significantly hamper long-term goals and ambitions or develop into a serious lifestyle problem. But yes, it's nice to think of the bigger picture once and a while and just....ponder. I'll sometimes just stare off and think about "everything and nothing" in a sense and yeah, we live in a cool world. Though excessive dreaming isn't too good either of course, only happens very rarely  fatfail's input was good too.
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i disagree on living no more than 100 years. we see more and more people living up to 120+ so why not spend the time figuring out ways or train urself to live longer. people gets old at like 60 70. why not find ways to not get old untill ur at least a hundred. at least thats more motivating imo. 150+ is not impossible. just not many people trying imo. i still am xD my goal so far 180. starting to have white hairs.
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On August 25 2012 09:09 fatfail wrote:
I think your post is an oxymoron. Living life to the fullest, to me, is a highly disciplined regimen of austerity, suffering, and self-improvement. To what end? Probably nothing, but maybe something. But it is better for a small chance of accomplishing something truly meaningful than having no chance at all. Although you don't interpret the perspective you presented this way, thinking of myself as a small, mortal, and insignificant piece in the universe makes me want to sleep in, eat a fucking burger, masturbate, eat a fucking pie, watch some TV, go on facebook, eat some ice cream, and wait for myself to die. Does the fact that I'm going to die motivate me? No, it doesn't. It makes me want to sleep more and eat more because, well, I'm going to die. Am I wrong for wanting to indulge in hedonistic please every time I think of the meaning of my existence? I don't think so. What motivates me is the potential I have to live forever. Look at Newton, or Einstein. Not exclusive to influential scientists, look at Bruce Lee or Bill Gates. It isn't inevitable death that motivates me, but eternal life. Just my opinion. Thanks for your perspective.
If you want to make a dent into history, then you're not ahieving eternal life either ; linger life, true, but you'll eventually end up forgotten like everyone else, and there'll still be nothing left of you when there won't be humans in the Universe anymore (which, with global warming, pollution and nuclear bombs, may come a lot sooner than eternity)
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On August 25 2012 16:44 boomudead1 wrote:
i disagree on living no more than 100 years. we see more and more people living up to 120+ so why not spend the time figuring out ways or train urself to live longer. people gets old at like 60 70. why not find ways to not get old untill ur at least a hundred. at least thats more motivating imo. 150+ is not impossible. just not many people trying imo. i still am xD my goal so far 180. starting to have white hairs.
To be honest, I don't want to live a long time as an old person. If I retire like a normal person by the age of 70, my health is likely going to be bad, my social life is going to be bad, and my mental faculties are going to be bad for a huge portion of my life if I live into the 100's. Fuck that, I'll probably get euthanized if I ever start a decline in health, or if I get hit with someone monumental for an old person, like kidney stones. That being said, I would do anything to live forever as a young adult.
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