January 10th, 2018
Day #8
Everyone is chasing a feeling.
I remember daydreaming about how awesome it would feel to be a full time artist.
I paint a picture in my head of how life would look and feel. Now, working hard to accomplish that dream, it doesn't look or feel anywhere close to what I thought, and that really changed the way I set goals and daydream now.
Whether it's a million dollars, a million books sold, or the approval of the people we respect, we're actually chasing the feeling that comes with these milestones, and not the milestones themselves.
Even when it's the middle of the night, and we start to miss our past relationships, we're missing the way they made us feel, not the person. The thing with chasing feelings is that it assumes we know how things are going to feel, and we're rarely right. Often, we are chasing the feeling of having value, and having that value recognized by people that matter to us. But things accomplished in the world outside of us, can do little to address the world inside of us.
Pay attention to your goals and the things you daydream about: the relief after finishing that last exam, the peace with getting out of debt, the validation of being noticed by your peers; and then see if accomplishing those goals means those feelings will last longer than a moment, they rarely do. We don't have to look outside to fix our feelings inside, we have the power to do that on our own, and that'll save us the time going on a wild goose chase from goal to goal, living our lives thinking that a single or collection of accomplishments will let us live happily ever after.
All feelings fade, the good and the bad, that's both a blessing and a curse.
- M
Day #8
Everyone is chasing a feeling.
I remember daydreaming about how awesome it would feel to be a full time artist.
I paint a picture in my head of how life would look and feel. Now, working hard to accomplish that dream, it doesn't look or feel anywhere close to what I thought, and that really changed the way I set goals and daydream now.
Whether it's a million dollars, a million books sold, or the approval of the people we respect, we're actually chasing the feeling that comes with these milestones, and not the milestones themselves.
Even when it's the middle of the night, and we start to miss our past relationships, we're missing the way they made us feel, not the person. The thing with chasing feelings is that it assumes we know how things are going to feel, and we're rarely right. Often, we are chasing the feeling of having value, and having that value recognized by people that matter to us. But things accomplished in the world outside of us, can do little to address the world inside of us.
Pay attention to your goals and the things you daydream about: the relief after finishing that last exam, the peace with getting out of debt, the validation of being noticed by your peers; and then see if accomplishing those goals means those feelings will last longer than a moment, they rarely do. We don't have to look outside to fix our feelings inside, we have the power to do that on our own, and that'll save us the time going on a wild goose chase from goal to goal, living our lives thinking that a single or collection of accomplishments will let us live happily ever after.
All feelings fade, the good and the bad, that's both a blessing and a curse.
- M
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