WARNING: MEANINGFUL CONTENT TO FOLLOW
So, it’s a Tuesday, not that any day is the best for a philosophical discussion with myself, and whomever logs on. But from yesterday’s blog I had 3 comments from my devoted readers.
Beth understands, I think she understands more than the rest, but I welcome all comments. I did think Beth had figured it all, really, but I do not necessarily know if it is a good thing, for me, or bad thing, for her. I would have figured that at this point in my life I would know what to do. I have faced many crossroads and obstacles, physically and mentally, but I wonder if this is different. It feels a little different, but at the same time it’s familiar.
Sarah says I need to find my passion, and that there are tests to figure it out like the Myers-Briggs test. I did take that once and I wonder if I answered because that is the way I am or it was the way I felt I was. Does that make sense? Not sure how much the test really tells you, when I took the test last time the test said I would be suited for the military. Can you imagine that? Me, in the military! HA!
Cousin Dan wrote that work is for paying the bills and passion is for the fun, for him it’s golf.
I do not really care if there is a meaning to life, I care what my life means to me. At my age, I really do not know what I want to do, but what do I want? Do I want a family? Do I want a better career? Do I want to be a bum? Do I want to just do nothing? What’s been really scary is that recently I feel that all I want to do is sleep. Which is pretty scary because is this not a sign of depression? So am I depressed?
Not sure, it’s not like I am sad, I am not necessarily estactic.
Okay, so it’s now Friday night, ok, technically Saturday morning since it is after midnight. I went through the week just getting my audits done. I still have no answer, which maybe I need to accept that I will never have an answer.
Wait – damn it. It’s my life, I will have an answer, {sigh} just don’t know when. If only . . . I want to think that some one out there could just tell me what to do and what I should be. But then will I have free will, or for that matter, is this not what the peons revolted against way back then? I made a joke a few years back about my position – I know I digress, but this is funny. So, way back when, I was a hourly employee with the isle and then I was made a lead revenue auditor. Someone asked me about my role in the department and I said that I was no longer a peon, who followed, now I was the lead peon. After a while, I became the supervisor of the department and the same person asked me about my job again, and I then said, I was no longer the lead peon, but now I was the peon who would lead the revolt. Ok, so it was funny to me.
So, back to me. It’s been 10 minutes later and still have no idea what to do with my life. {sigh}
Maybe I will be enlightened some day, hopefully years before I die.
Oh Ingrid – I wish I could help you figure things out. I completely understand what you were saying about those tests – they change depending on where you are in life.
Anyway, I hope you find some happiness – you had thought about volunteering, maybe with kids. Look into it!
Thinking of you,
Sarah
By: Sarah on May 24, 2008
at 2:19 pm
Ingrid, your existential angst is universal. Take Kafka, Camus, Sartre. “I think, therefore I am,” said Descartes, but what Am I? He didn’t answer that question, and few of us can. I was talking this morning with a friend. I was talking about the goals I have with my business and my writing, and as I described the paths I could take, I realized that I have no idea which path to take. What would mean more, do more, make me happier and more fulfilled? Beats the hell out of me. And that leaves my future with a series of question marks.
But on I go. Today, tomorrow, this week… I have definitive plans. But after that? When I go to England? Will the winds blow? Will something wonderful occur to me that will make life crystal clear? Call me a cynic, but I highly doubt I’ll ever have an “aha” experience again with regards to my future and the meaning of life.
Thus, I go back to the conclusions that one may draw from the two sides of existentialism. One says, “When you die, you rot, so what difference does anything make.” The other side says, “When you die, you rot, so you better make the most of this life.” Thus I pursue (directionless?) adventure after adventure, hoping that the sum total of my adventures will have made this life worth living. But maybe I’m missing the boat.
Again, not to promo my own site, but this poem really helps me see some perspective:
http://www.lifeonavenuez.com/2007/12/18/on-doing-what-makes-a-difference-for-a-living/
I didn’t want to paste it here because this comment is already unbearably long.
We’re all here with you, Ingrid.
By: Beth from Avenue Z on May 26, 2008
at 10:43 pm