The True Meaning Of Life Isn't About Seeking Happiness
Life is about experiencing every bit of emotion and seeing as many people as you can.
Artem Postoev / shutterstock By Rayi Noormega
Life can be quite interesting.
Recently, I quit my first job at a startup company and signed a job offer for a position at an advertising agency. I felt desperately scared because I didn’t have any first-hand experience in the creative industry.
Still, I signed the job offer anyway, even though I knew that I needed to learn from scratch and start all over again.
I’m still struggling to figure out how to do this job properly and fit into the culture of my new company. I miss my previous workplace, and it’s extremely difficult to get over my previous friends and colleagues.
I know that I just have a broken heart because I recently made a huge change in my life. I dedicate my broken heart and painful experience to anyone who feels that they’re stuck where they don’t belong.
This is for those who are stuck in jobs they hate, but don’t have the courage to quit. It’s for those of you who are stuck in toxic relationships or are too afraid to fall in love.
This is for those who need to make positive changes in life, but don’t know where to start.
I know that you’re scared as hell. You keep replaying the questions and worst-case scenarios in your head. I understand you’ve chosen to stay with the status quo instead of taking a leap of faith outside your comfort zone.
Here’s the thing, though. Instead of wishing you’ll have a life full of comfort, I hope you’ll have a life full of stories.
I hope you learn how to sail the ocean in the middle of a hurricane. I hope you will discover the courage to jump, knowing for certain that no matter the height, you will always touch the ground safely.
I hope you will become brave enough to travel a great distance and still have faith that you’ll eventually arrive at your destination.
I hope you fall deeply in love with someone and have the courage to tell them the truth without the fear of rejection. If they break your heart into pieces, I hope you know that it’s not the end of the world.
I hope you feel the pain within your chest and find a way to heal it. I hope you’ll open your heart again and be brave enough to trust people once more.
I hope you’ll understand that people are temporary, and you need to be comfortable being on your own.
I hope you’ll learn that people won’t always treat you the way you treat them. If they leave you behind, I hope you’ll always be kind.
I hope you’ll stop building homes within people and start to build one within yourself instead.
You see, the meaning of life is not about achieving long-term happiness. This life is not a journey to find the right way to always be happy, either.
I believe that the meaning of life is to go through as many experiences as you possibly can, so you’ll have the first-hand experience to help other people through their hard times.
Life is about experiencing every bit of emotion and seeing as many people as you can.
It’s about being empathetic towards someone who goes through the same heartbreaks that you’ve already felt. It’s about being there to support your friends when they go outside their comfort zones because you know how hard it is to start all over again.
Life is about learning new things; share your knowledge with other people. It’s about falling in love and risking that someone may break your heart, so you can tell people that all of us could survive a rough breakup.
Life is about confronting problems, appreciating the simple things in life, and feeling grateful.
So, from now on, don’t seek happiness and comfort in your life because you’ll receive nothing in the end. Please seek challenges, explore new things, see new faces, and visits many new places as you possibly can.
Seek whatever sets your soul aflame and makes your heart race. Seek whatever makes you feel alive.
At the end of the day, I hope you’ll be brave enough to take a step out of your comfort zone and start living now.
Rayi Noormega is a writer for Thought Catalog and Unwritten. She has also been published at Elite Daily, Magdalene, Huffington Post, The Jakarta Post, and more. For more of her content, visit her website.