Have you asked this question to yourself? If haven’t, ask it right now! Ask yourself why are you living? There is a huge difference between ‘being alive’ and ‘living’. Everybody is alive; from a street dog to the richest man on the planet, from a drug addict teenager to the president of America. But not everybody is living their life. And yeah, the example just might mislead. Being successful solely doesn’t mean that you are living and the converse is not true either.
I believe everybody should have a purpose to live. Living without a reason is as good as not being alive. Does your existence make a difference to anyone? Are you living with a cause? Are living with an aim? And let me remind you again, living is not about earning money. Of course, we want to earn money; everybody wants the life to get luxurious. Living the life is not everything about money but money certainly has a big role to play in it.
No matter who you are, you get only 24 lousy hours in a day. 6-8 hours of which we spend sleeping. We are left with barely 16. 9 hours we work in the office, 2 hours in travel, 2 hours in coffee, breakfast, lunch, and dinner; and now, we are left with 3 precious hours to ‘live’.
What do we do in these 3 hours matters the most. For the most of us, it is about getting rest, may be a nap, watching TV or spending time on social media. Do we have life beyond that? Let me reframe the question. Shall we have life beyond that? My answer is definitely ‘YES’.
Yes we do job at office. So does everyone. What is that which makes us different from others? What is that which makes an identity out of us? For someone, it may be singing, playing guitar, piano, playing some sport, writing, dancing and photography anything which you can think of. Do we excel in that? Say if you are a keen reader, what are you doing with the wisdom you gained from reading? Why not to write a blog about your thoughts? Don’t think about gaining readers as of now; just pen down everything you feel after reading every good book. It will add a new dimension to the reading. My point is, don’t stop living. Make your hobby, your passion a core part of your routine.
And this was just about life as an individual. Living social life is far more important and difficult too. No, I am not talking about being social guy, attending parties, pubs and putting some selfies on instagram or Facebook or twitter. Believe me or not, nobody cares about you are being a part of such social gathering. Even if you are not being present to some disco night, it doesn’t make difference, the dance would be as hard as it would have been with you. Do you have a social existence where your presence make a difference? It is a million dollar question, isn’t it?
We should introspect, each and every day, about what we did, what we do, what we could do, what we haven’t done, living the life is not an eat-job-sleep –repeat. Everyday counts. You are living, if you help others to stand and live their life as well. Being socially active, making a tiny contribution for the betterment of the world is our responsibility. It is what the society expects us to do. It’s an obligation, not a hobby. The moral is, Raise yourself so that you can give a hand down and help others to climb.
Are you with me to live such life?
Let me know!
– Gaurav
25 Comments
Very Well written Gaurav 🙂 .. Very nice . I would like to add to your article a line which i hv perceived after reading it – “Add life to years and not years to life”!
Thank you. Keep coming up with these wonderful articles.
Gaurav well written Mitra!
I also believe that there should be life beyond just monotony of office work, perhaps pursuing hobby is more important as it will help you individually to tackle stress related issues. I am of the thought that the knowledge you have gained can be passed to children less fortunate enough to get it. Many of the children do not have elders who can guide them, if we can get a little time for such it wud b very helpful for the society’s greater good. This point generally don’t exits on ones to do list.
Thanks a lot Hitesh.
Completely Agree with you. What is the use of the knowledge if it can not be used for the welfare of someone? We are blessed. Blessed with parents, friends who love us, teachers who guide us. Have got everything, food shelter clothes and education. What are we doing for those for whom, living is an everyday battle?
You definitely look keen for social work activities. I recommend you to follow Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s social pages. 🙂
KEEP LIVING. 🙂
Every living being on this planet has a purpose in his life. With the busy schedule and all the hustle-bustle we all tend to become mechanical. Robots. When you realize you are turning into one. Remind yourself of your purpose. Your purpose of living. And you will be human again.
Well presented Gaurav. Happy writing. 😀
Thanks Akshay 🙂
Yeah. Truely, There is difference between a man and a machine. How ironic it is that the mankind is trying to induce intelligence and emotions into machine and slowly, unknowingly leaving the hand of the same on the course.
words of wisdom man….words of wisdom..
I do live a life like that so I actually know how much sense this post makes. If everyone starts thinking like this, the world will be a much better place. 🙂
Thank you very much Madhuri 🙂
Yes. The world would be a much much better place with a small initiative from our side. wouldn’t it ?
Indeed 🙂
Very well written.:-) today it has become a need to remind this to everyone. And implement it.ofcourse.:-)
Thanks a lot 🙂
Yes it is need of the day.Share the article with your friends if u agree with the thoughts.
and KEEP LIVING 🙂
Yup sure. 🙂
Having a purpose to live or life having purpose at all…egg from the chicken or chicken from the egg or not!
The framework that you have touched upon is indeed lively. By that I mean not to say that its the usual one. Here, you might have to go back and read the first line again and again…yet again.
Introspecting is to knowing as knowing is to understanding as understanding is to knowledge. Yes, my friend, words of wisdom for sure but still and always will be timed as per the need- our passion has its own purpose after all. They are but lively, you know.
Thanks Shreya 🙂
Yes, our passion has its own purpose and its benefits too, but many times they are unknown even to ourselves. Like, reading adds to our wisdom, but that is not really the purpose why we read. We read for pleasure.
I say, live for a cause and that cause will give rise to thousands of more reasons to live for..
Liked your million dollar question …. nicely written the thoughts….
Thanks a lot Prabodh 🙂
Everybody should ask that question to herself everyday. May be that will bring some positive change.
KEEP LIVING ! 🙂
Brother…very effective piece of writing which is practical to apply in our day to day life…
and as u said…social networking does not actually make u social…meet people out there who care for u…spend ua precious time with loved ones…laugh of loud(which most of the people have forgot to)
and I belive that the ultimate aim of life is to be happy…
happiness is when what u think what u say and what u do are in harmony – Mahatma Gandhi
Well Said Ranjit.
Being happy matters the most. Often people leave happiness behind objective gains.But that doesn’t signify the reason behind living.
Driving force of living is something which we all should search for.
KEEP LIVING ! 🙂
Brilliant man ! How long you’ve lived never matters, only How you’ve lived, that matters. Most of us spend our lives reacting to situations instead of taking a stand and trying to change the situations and that is why we are often rendered social irrelevance. So take the stand and start living !
Well Said Sumedh 🙂
We often take meaning of being ‘socially active’ in a wrong way. There should be a motive to live the life.
KEEP LIVING ! 🙂
Very well written gaurav ! I do agree with your views. Unfortunetely we are only alive today! We are not living our life …. !
Your article give a thought for all of us 🙂
Thank You very much Prathamesh 🙂
That is a great and motivating compliment indeed..
KEEP LIVING 🙂
Hey it was a really good read. Time management is probably a esoteric topic, but you have put it in simple words. Thanks
Thanks a lot Saurabh 🙂
Keep visiting for new articles.
KEEP LIVING 🙂