Maybe Life Doesn't Need a Point
Hello!
How are you today? Focused on the things you have to do? Or maybe you're avoiding all the things you have to do but have chosen to do something else and you're trying to think of a reason to justify that activity?
This is something we do all the time; there constantly has to be a purpose to what we're doing, an end goal... a point. We give everything in life a purpose and ultimately get stressed out and anxious when we can't justify something. But why? Maybe we don't have to do that, maybe there doesn't have to be an end goal to absolutely everything in life.
The motivation behind this blog post came to me yesterday when I was at a meeting about slowing down life and taking the time to enjoy it. There was a guy called Richard there from an organisation called "Light Up Learning" (click to learn more) and he was talking about how they help kids learn new learning skills by studying something that they actually want to learn about. It could be anything they wanted - David Beckham for example. There are no exams, they're just learning for the sheer joy of learning. This really stuck with me. I mean, how often do we openly do things for the sheer joy of it?
If you're at university, you often get asked why you chose your subject, and where it's going to take you. I always say I chose sociology because I want to be a counsellor and I didn't fancy psychology but that's not entirely true. I have always been fascinated by people and how they work and I just wanted to learn about it. Honestly, it would be so nice if we could just say "does it matter where it takes me, I'm enjoying it right now!" to the question of why we're doing something. Because, if we're being totally honest with ourselves, we don't really have reasons for doing a lot of things.
It's the same with hobbies, I am lucky enough to be rather good at music and sing at a relatively high standard. Because of this, I often get asked whether I want to make a career out of it and then get asked why when I say that I don't. To be honest, I don't think we need to make a job out of everything we're good at or capitalise on every talent we have to offer, I believe we should just enjoy things. I do singing because I love it, always have, always will, simple as that.
I suppose I should relate this to mental health (presumably that's partly why you're here after all!). You don't need to provide a reason for taking rests, or being slow to reply to things, or needing extensions on work. People have no right to judge you for looking after yourself, you do you! This kind of makes me think of a film I saw on Netflix recently called "What We Did On Our Holiday" with Billy Connolly. It's main message was that life is short so you just live it as fully as possible but the line that really stuck with me is "Nothing matters because at the end of the day, we're all ridiculous!" And that's so true. In 10 years time, you'll look back at photos of things you did when you were maybe meant to be working and you won't think about the work you missed, you'll just be left with the memories. With anxiety, it can be really hard to let go and not justify things but I've decided to try and have more fun from now on and if I can do it, so can you.
I hope you're all doing well,
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
