We all have something to give to the world. Yes, All of Us.
But to understand this, I need to tell you a short story.
As far as I can remember, I always wanted to do something with my life. Being status quo was never good enough for me. I needed to stand out. I could not be average. I could not be a nobody. I had to be remembered, I wanted to be important. I wanted to stand out, carve that special identity for myself.
Needless to say, I struggled with severe depression in my early 20’s and late teens. I felt isolated, and suicidal all the time.
I thought I understood myself and my depression and my suicidal thoughts. I felt I had so much talent, I could play the Guitar, the keyboards, the Drums, sing, but I never got a break. I had read so many philosophical books, so much Russian and German literature, I used to listen to classical symphonies, watch obscure artistic movies, but I was not being realized for what an educated, cultural and “deep” person I was.
I would endlessly brood, label the world as fake, people as shallow. If someone would try to help me, or talk me out of my internal and external hate, I would immediately consider them to lack the intellect to comprehend my problems. Obviously, I was unhappy. I was frustrated how I could not really do anything befitting my talents. Being all that special I convinced myself to be, I was just any other person, going through the mundane routines of this world.
Needless to say, besides short, uninspired bursts of success and happiness, I could not really get anything done, or achieve something that I was actually proud of.
Fast forward 10 years, and now I realize, where I was all wrong.
It’s simple yet so profound.
All that I wanted to achieve back then, was centered around one entity.
Myself. Me. I.
‘I’ wanted to be something. ‘I’ wanted the world to hear me out. ‘I’ wanted something more out of this life. ‘I’ wanted a vent for myself, to express, and to ultimately find some form of recognition for myself.
And then it finally occurred to me over the course of the last few months.
God did not give us all our gifts, talents, and abilities to pursue our own self interests.
God gave us all these gifts so we can give something back to the world, to people and the rest of us. Whenever we have this as the driving force behind our pursuits, we will not fail. Because, the motivation stems from something deeper, something purer, something more vital, more profound than just the gratification of our egos.
This blog intends to be a means to do exactly that. To give something back to the world. To provide simple lessons on how to be happier, more fulfilled and more content with this life.
Too many people have started seeing life as a total exercise in futility. I plan to convince you otherwise. Life is precious, it does have a purpose, a meaning.
The world needs you. The world needs everyone. Figure out what you can give.
This blog is a collection of positive thoughts and messages that I plan to give to you.
Hence, it is existential calm. As crazy and oxymoron-ish as it sounds, existential calm does exist. We just need to open our eyes:
I-70 West, Denver out to Utah
Existential Calm 
Great post! It’s easy to lose track of ourselves when we’re constantly working, and even when we’re not working, we’re thinking about work! Society always pressures us into being “successful”, but these things are predominantly subjective. That is to say, we all understand these ideas as being personal to us, and any remark against them is inadvertently an attack against who we are, and what we represent. Not to mention the idea of “expectation” vs. “reality”, a never-ending conflict that makes us believe we deserve something, or that certain events in the pantheon of things-to-be must have outcomes that favor us. I don’t think it’s simply about methodologies or remedies to separate us from these trap-like thoughts, but we must learn what it actually means to be free from them. How can we honor what we have? What does it mean to be slaves, not only to each other, but to ourselves as well? Hmm…
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Hi Faizan! Thank you for such a great comment! You bundled so many profound philosophical insights into a few sentences, I had to read it a few times to get it all down!
I guess the fundamental question I am trying to answer in my first blogpost is, what should be the basic inner motivation behind all the ‘success’ we are striving for? I totally agree when you say success is subjective to each and everyone of us, but looking at our population as a bigger whole, especially people our age group, we see many people thrust into chasing the same so-called successful life which they don’t truly believe in, or isn’t unique enough to their talents.
Do people really see utmost success as landing a stable 9-5 grind, having a house, a car and a family? I think it is a duty for all of us, to first determine what our unique strengths are (which I truly believe are given to us by God for a reason) and then make sure our gifts are given back to the world. That sounds more like success people can passionately strive for.
I feel that our society nowadays engers so much fear, that we are automatically thrusted into a rat race where all of us our running towards some amorphous life event loosely referred to as success.
All that being said, my question to you is: Do you think everyone of us has someone to give back to the world which should be amongst their diving callings? In a later blogpost, I plan on expanding on this idea further, and talk about how giving back to the world, could be the answer to the age-old atheist ic question of the ‘epicurean paradox’
Please Respond! I would love to know what you think!
-Waqas
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