Most of what we own, has been owned by someone else before us, and will be owned by another the moment we leave this world. All that we possess is borrowed to us.
Why are we clutching onto our possessions so anxiously? 'It is MINE!' we scream.
Why do we hoard ?? Is the only meaning of our life to jump onto society's hamster wheel and live only to work ? Are we here with the sole purpose to make money only to spend them collecting things we don't need ?
Are we too busy chasing a carrot, missing the point of what life is really about ?
The problem we have is that we FOLLOW... We follow others, wanting the same as them, and in the process we copy all their mistakes.
We strive to study prestigeous schools to get that high fly job. We work vast majority of our days to pay bills for the flashy car and spacious house we've always dreamt about. We travel abroad, pay insurance, tax... you name it. Once we are caught in the SYSTEM it is hard to step out of it.
Funny thing is, the more money we make the faster the wheel spins. We work more, to make more, to spend more on stuff we didn't even know we needed. The system hooks you in and out the window is living in peace the life we have truly chosen. The 'survival of the fittest' race is on ! Wanting to look better, bigger, smarter, more successful, spinning around finding it hard to sleep or relax. We get tired and sick...
The system has somehow managed to delude us that our life is in danger. Yet from what we have could easily survive few others.
Our parents were saving money all their lives only to leave them for us. What life have they had ?
Do we like to walk their path ? Or should we rather teach our children how to truly live their life ?
Do we like to work to live, or live only to work ?
We are delusional thinking our life is great working 5 to 6 days a week, and living just 1 to 2days a week. UNLESS, of course, our job is our hobby, our pleasure. We are deceiving ourselves saying we have to follow what others do, without questioning the truth and our own sanity.
If our job is someone else's choice ( because we let our parents decide for us ) we cannot be BUT followers. Those traditions which restrict free will of another, are poison to living a happy life. Because they breed followers by denying questioning and challenge. They instill anxiety and apprehension: 'How will I cope in this world ?'
Of course we are anxious seeing the difficulties our parents went through ! Our perception of life is that of a STRUGGLE. There is no way out of a job we don't enjoy. One just has to grit his/her teeth and suffer, because 'others do too'... because 'our parents did it for us'...
We feel almost guilty for wanting to question the purpose of OUR life when others sacrificed theirs for us, don't we ? We feel ashamed for NOT wanting to suffer when our parents did. It is a GUILT TRIP our traditions send us on.
But do you know what ? We are entitled to question. We must question and freely decide because our life belongs to us and no one else, because our life is our ONLY POSSESSION ! Someone must break this pain cycle, don't you think ?
We are OK to work hard if we really enjoy what we do. We don't mind having less money knowing it was OUR choice. We choose to jump on the work tredmil, being fully aware what it costs us, knowing how to disengage without feeling less, or guilty.
It seems that slavery at home breeds slavery again. If we get used to being told by our parents, we tolerate being told by others, like our partners, political leaders, or bosses. Obedience breeds obedience. Followers produce more followers: 'Be alike, don't be heard or seen, listen and do as you told.' Most damaging one to our evolution is 'DON'T ASK.' Do we even wonder why the way we live our life is against logic ?
If we are to live life with a purpose, other than borrowed, other than what we have been told and seen at home, we must question. We must ask. We must rebel. We must stop following, blinded by the wheel of fortune, which really is just a hamster wheel. Or we will spend our precious time running in circles chasing an illusion, and falling out of it exhausted when approaching the end of our life thinking: 'What was that all about !? Did I really live well ?'
Thank you for reading. If my article contributed to understanding yourself, please be generous and share it with others.
Copyright © 2016 Michaela Patel