Is it normal... to find the normal linear progression of life boring?

87% Normal
20 Comments

Birth -> School -> Work -> Death. I'm oversimplifying a little, but that's generally how it goes, with chaos theory thrown into the mix. I know 50 year olds who are still experiencing teenage angst. Even if you're a genius scientific researcher who contributes to curing Alzheimer's, you'll probably still be a mere footnote in a book somewhere in a century from now. And who the hell knows where humanity will be by then?

I want to live outside of space and time. I don't need genius math skills or amazing artistic abilities, because unless they truly are genius, who will care in a hundred years from now? The rat race is boring. I want something radically different.

Most of my friends never think about this. Maybe I should just accept that at 40 I won't have the same abilities I have at 20. Maybe I should become an entrepreneur. Maybe I should focus on developing my skills in areas I'm passionate about and settle for trying to make the best of my existence, as in the book The Power of Flow. Maybe I should take up spirituality.

But that's boring. It's been done before.

Voting Results
87% Normal
Based on 78 votes (68 yes)
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Comments ( 20 )
  • Wonka
    13 years ago

    Wow... Most people never really hit the "revelation" that life is very, VERY simple. You are perfectly correct my friend, normal life IS boring!

    That's why I avoid "normal" as much as humanly possible. After all, by definition, there is already enough people that are "normal".

    I saw a number of comments that said to not think too much about the linearity of life or it will make you crazy. I also see suggestions to go make a name for yourself, or to "mix things up" and even you suggested to maybe start a business or developing your skills or even becoming spiritual...

    Why?

    For ALL of the above options there are millions upon MILLIONS of other people doing the EXACT SAME THING and truth be told... they're all boring if you don't enjoy doing them!

    Here's a secret, so keep it hush-hush...

    Life is ONLY as interesting as YOU make it.

    It doesn't matter if you "mix things up" or start a business or re-write the laws of physics (ok, maybe that last one will). The reality of life is when all is said and done, you wind up dead and EVERYTHING you have ever done, no matter how revolutionary or influential, will at best be pushed off into the history books.

    SO, don't EVER forget to find something that YOU love to do, something that lets you forget all the cares and pressures and worries of the world for a while and just DO it now and then.

    Who cares how useful/useless it is, it could be flying a kite, making midevil style armor, playing video games, LARP'ing, boating, drawing, hiking or sitting and watching the paint dry. Just make it an activity(ies) that YOU enjoy because just before you breath your final breath, all that will REALLY have mattered to YOU is how much enjoyment and happiness YOU got out of your life.

    Cheers and here's to you hopefully squeezing more enjoyment out of life!

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    • flashpoint
      13 years ago

      Serious response:

      Life is good. Life is also a constant struggle.

      No wonder so many people want to see the "end" of the world, or who "at least" want to see a revolution. No wonder we're maybe irrationally funneling money into a project to send humans to Mars in 2030. Other people generally like being alive, but we need something different, something new.

      torchwood_lover's comments are perfectly reasonable, and that's probably a very worthwhile way to live, but I'm looking for. . . something else. Something beyond that. I've read in a book called The Happiness Paradox that life now in 2010 is much different than in any past era. Postmodernism knocked down our common faiths and beliefs. Overall, religion isn't as important (or at least as central) as it once was and it isn't interpreted in the same way.

      Our ancestors knew how to define a successful life: they would fight their way to the top, have strong family ties, work in their industry, make the best of what they had, adhere to their religion and their society's system of ethics, and (hopefully) die surrounded by those they love, with children to continue the family name.

      Nowadays?

      Postmodernism and a rapidly evolving technology sector swept most of that away. With the speed of society's progression (I recommend a book called Future Shock), for the first time, people in developed nations are finding themselves uprooted, not sure where their faith belongs, not sure what the future holds. Compared with our ancestors, we live day to day.

      Maybe there has never been a better time to be alive. Maybe the answer is, indeed, to live life the best you can with what you've got, to follow your passions and work hard. And then you're stuck as a senior citizen in a society that really really fears getting old, and eventually you die and become a statistic that won't mean a damn thing in the long run.

      Get into history, political science, psychology, and sociology, and also get out in the real world. Almost all of us follow the same patterns -- unless we've been gifted with a genius IQ and talent and social support and maybe also dumb luck. Sadly, the most creative lateral thinkers I've met, the people who at least shake things up a bit or question the boring linear progression of life, usually turn out to be psychopaths. :(

      Wonka: Good post, reasonable conclusion. Since I'm not enough of a genius mastermind to foresee the problems we'll be facing in the future or to write the equivalent of the next Fahrenheit 451 or Brave New World, I'll have to settle for actually ENJOYING life and capitalizing on opportunities when I see them.

      As well as, you know, trying to correct the injustices I see and not screw up the world even more. But everyone makes mistakes.

      TL;DR take risks, have fun, be creative, question everything, and if the rat race isn't working for you, don't internalize their values like everyone else and live a boring linear life.

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  • Justdreaming
    13 years ago

    Try the spirituality thing if you get bored enough imo. Drop the ego, and then you won't give a fuck! Oh and that whole business about enjoying life more, etc.

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  • [Old Memory]
    13 years ago

    Don't think about it too much

    You will get crazy like me

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    • Pretty_Hate_Machine
      13 years ago

      and me....

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      • flashpoint
        13 years ago

        and me. . .

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  • TheGuruOfTheSauce
    13 years ago

    lol Aristotle, Socrates, Beethoven, Lincoln, Hitler. Now wheres that book? surely at 40 you have more wisdom you could share than a 20 year old. Any action you take will indeed make a difference, being negative and thinking that you have to do something incredible to matter is disheartening and will lead you being a boring miserable old troll. Life is about the people around you and doing what you love sounds like a great idea to get you out of this slump.

    Do what makes you happy and stay out of your head.

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  • [Old Memory]
    13 years ago

    same here. and none of my friends do that, they just go with the flow and that annoys me. i mean don't people ever stop and think. they make it seem as if i'm over thinking things when they are the ones who aren't thinking at all

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  • pixie_dust
    9 years ago

    It's easy. actually. we've been lead to believe otherwise, but all you have to do is look inside yourself. Close your eyes, visualize, ask yourself a question of what you want to know. When you do that, there is a higher self and/or "guardian angel' types that guide you with synchronicity. Like when you tell yourself to wake up at 8 when you go to bed and you do! We all have that power. it lies within you. The good news is that life is a lot better that we grew up thinking! This is the beginning of the golden age, according to the Mayans, the ancient Egyptians, and multiple other independent ancient cultures around the world. If you study ancient Egypt you get a glimpse how magical and wonderful that civilization was. They knew that 2012 was the beginning of it all. It's not obvious yet but the pieces are falling against the illuminati all around the world and within 10-20 years our lives will be transformed!

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  • elasticband
    13 years ago

    Yes, I try to be the rock stuck in the wheel, at least.

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    • flashpoint
      13 years ago

      My philosophy: Do your own thing. Try not to kill anyone.

      I keep hearing that "destruction is easier than creation", which is true, I suppose, but that doesn't leave room for creative destruction.

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  • torchwood_lover
    13 years ago

    Are you trying to leave your mark on the world (and worry nobody will rember you after about a week) or are trying to make sure you are living a crazy life to the full? I personally would go for living life to the full, always try new things, be brutally honest, talk to strangers, dance in the rain and all that jazz. These questions still keep me up at night but you have to make you life your own.I thinks its totally normal to think these thoughts.

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  • BOYracer88
    13 years ago

    just make the most of what you have now, who cares who remebers you in the future, yea its sad if no-one does but you will be brown-bread anyway, its all about the here and the now

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  • corkie
    13 years ago

    i know exactly what you mean. as soon as i saw the john lewis advert on tv, i figured out that after i die, i will probably never be remembered for doing anything. about 2 generations down the line after you die, you will simply become another speck of dust in the wind. :) that probably made you even more depressed, but it made me feel a helluva lot better! thanks! :):)

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    • flashpoint
      13 years ago

      You're welcome!

      Just don't become that poster from Despair, Inc.:

      "Hundreds of years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove... But the world may be different because I did something so bafflingly crazy that my ruins become a tourist attraction."

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  • [Old Memory]
    13 years ago

    I want my experience on this Earth to be totally completely unique

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  • chairs
    13 years ago

    I relate to this so much. I totally agree too and have been asking myself the same question; "Is this normal or not?" lately.

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  • hotchickie81
    13 years ago

    I think about stuff like that every day...

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  • kneegnaw
    13 years ago

    I agree. Life would so much cooler if superpowers, time machines, monsters, and all that good stuff were real

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    • pixie_dust
      9 years ago

      the irony.. is that stuff IS real!

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