Live for yourself or Live for others?

Yesterday, I came across an interesting question as I was browsing some blogs. The question dealt with the issue of whether your life is worth living for yourself or for others? Now at first glance, It may seem as if It's a pretty straightforward answer but if you take a second look at the question, you will have a difficult time coming to a conclusion. Am I right? Not as easy as you might think.

Well I wanted to really dive into it and see where I stood on the issue. Turns out that I was just as confused as you. My initial response was to live for others. If you live for others, you always gain joy in other's happiness, but while that may seem well and all, it would mean nothing if your not happy with yourself first. If you are not satisfied with yourself, then how can you be satisfy others? It's a very simple theory but one that is often overlooked. If your needs are not met, then how can you meet other's needs? Now, while reading this, it may seem as a selfish thought and in a sense it is. But it is my belief that there is nothing wrong with selfishness in moderation.

To be able to satisfy yourself first, and become completely content with the person that you are should be what we should all strive for, and then when we feel as if we've established ourselves, whatever is left, we can give to others. No patient wants to receive blood from a sick donor, so why should you live for others when your unable to live for yourself first?

That's just the conclusion I arrived with, but I'm sure it varies for others.

A Lost Passion Equals a New Revelation

I know, I know. I haven't updated this blog in quite some time, but that's all about to change. I blame myself for my shortcomings and dishonesty to this blog but the long break period definitely gave me something to reflect on, and I've got some very new and exciting experiences to share with you all. Where to start, that is the question.

Ok, so you may have noticed the title coming off as a bit pessimistic, but it's far from it. Yes, I have lost a passion, but in the process gained something far greater and more valuable. That being a revelation. Confused? I'll explain.

Throughout your lifetime, you tend to experience these moments of revolutionary change, where you feel as if your once keen interests are now just part of a faded background of memory. Now I suppose, not everyone tends to have changes to an extreme as I have, but that's not the point. What I'm insinuating here the fact that I've lost a good portion of passion for the most watched event on TV in America: Sports. Namely, Basketball.

It's actually a very interesting story. Don't get me wrong, I still love playing sports, in fact I encourage it. However, watching sports is a whole another story. My reasoning behind this is simple yet hard to grasp. It's the fact that If my valuable time is being contributed in an area where my opinion holds no weight whatsoever, is something I simply can't tolerate...anymore. I've thrown away hours and hours of just researching statistics, thinking of ways to come up with new arguments, sacrificing moments with others, all for the simple entertainment that I used to live for. I wrote articles, blogs, discussed and debated the sport...No more.

It ends here for me. This was my revelation. Once I asked myself the question "What will I get if Derrick Rose scores 30 points today?" or "Does Kobe Bryant care if I don't believe he is the best Laker of all time?." The answers weren't exactly what I was looking: Nothing and No. And so that was enough to convince me that I'm done. Of course, catching a game or two here and there isn't something I'm opposed to. It's just the fact that It won't be nearly as time-consuming as it was before.

And I couldn't be happier. This revelation has been something that's been a long-coming for me and I hope to use the time that I've gained to do better for me and for society. I urge anybody who is or was as consumed as myself in watching sports to follow a different path and find a higher existence in life. It really is the better way of living.