Meaning When There is None
We are among some of the smallest things in this universe; we could disappear tomorrow, and the universe would still be there. In the grand scheme of things, we are meaningless, but that does not mean we cannot bring upon our own meaning. Being meaningless gives us more opportunity to be who we want to be, gives us more of a reason to take a leap of faith and step outside our comfort zone, and bring peace to a life where all we do is look for meaning.
As children we are asked, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” We all say big things like an Olympian, President, doctor, author; kids usually do not say they want to be an accountant when they grow up. At this point in our lives we think we can achieve anything we want like it is no big deal. Later in life, as high schoolers, we are bombarded with what major we will be in college; it is time to set in stone what you want your life to be made up of. Some will go through an existential crisis wondering what am I supposed to do? Thats the thing though, we are not supposed to do anything but be alive; this is all extra you get to pick. Go with your gut feeling, and know yourself well enough to make yourself happy. In the long run, what you choose will not matter: how much you make, where you live, what you do for a living. Make your life yours because you have the freedom to do so.
Risks need to be made to go further in life; if we stayed in our comfort zone what would we actually achieve? If we do not ask our boss for that raise someone else will get it, and we will continue to make less due to inflation. If we do not ask that boy/girl out we may miss out on our life partner. The worst that can happen is we are told “no”. It may hurt in the moment, but we will still go about our lives like nothing happened. Thats because nothing really did happen. Rejection does not have to be negative; it can be meaningless. Use it as an excuse to move on to something better. This feeling only effects us internally, but not externally. Choosing how to respond to rejection is up to us. It is the only thing we control. If we focus too much on giving this rejection a negative meaning we will be too scared to pursue life in general. We would not get into better jobs, get into colleges we deserve to get into, and be with the people that will help us grow more in life. The risk and rejection are meaningless, so we have no reason not to go for it.
Life’s meaning is something that a lot of people struggle with. We feel as if it should be apparent to us what we are supposed to do, but thats not always the case. People keep switching jobs, majors, and partners to find the “perfect” one; that the true purpose and perfect life will just appear to them if they wait long enough, but those things will never come to those who wait like this. Meaning and “perfection” are only created from within. They are concepts that we make up using our own desires. When we find out there is no objective meaning to life that frees up what the meaning should be. Like how the words being read right now only have meaning to reader who reads English.To someone who reads in a different language or cannot read, this has no meaning to them; these words only have meaning because humans gave them meaning. To anyone who does not understand English, it is meaningless to them. Life is the same as language: it has no true meaning, only the one we give it.
Just because life has no objective meaning does not mean that you cannot give it your own. Life being meaningless is such a beautiful thing. It gives us so much room to pick and choose what we want out of it. If life had an objective meaning we would be stuck; if we did not like the objective truth we would be stuck with it. Pick the life you want, take the risks you want to take, and find peace that life is meaningless in the best way possible. We are the writers of our story, and we get to pick how the story goes.
