Is it a trend or a true goal?

We pursue new goals every year. I almost made it a goal to get better at golf last year because all my friends play. I never ended up pursuing it because I didn’t really care for the sport. I realized I have plenty of other activities for hanging out with my friends and I enjoy sports that are more active. However, I do see others signing up for this is a common phenomenon, this act of signing up for goals without actually considering what it means to them? Did these goals originate from a collective group of people from your community also wanting to achieve them? Is this another new trend that everyone is doing? Did you sign up for yoga just because it’s supposed to be healthy and everyone is doing it? Did you take courses for a network engineering license because you just want to make more money? The biggest question of them all is, how many of these goals ended up turning into frustrating failures?

Short-term gratification or goal?

Goals, when end up as real passions are amazing but unfortunately, they are also short-term gratifications that we aggregate in our lives to give us some sort of meaning and wins. However, a lot of times, we are just focused on the results and feeling of joy of crossing them off our bucket list. We even try to make it a habit/routine so that we automate our way into accomplishing it. Common themes like “consistency is key” drives us to blindly sign up for these so called goals and finish them but is this truly what makes us happy? Sure we can achieve good side effects like better health but what if yoga isn’t the only way there. If it’s not a passion and if it’s not something that we are naturally good at, then why pursue it.

Everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish by the ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that is stupid.

Albert Einstein

Don’t get me wrong, every time I do yoga, I feel great, but is it my only true calling? No. It’s an exercise I will practice on occasion but to me, it’s not the meaningful activity that my body/mind craves. I can’t say this for everyone since we are all wired differently but it definitely applies to some folks like me. Being healthy is truly important to me because we need to respect these vessels that take us on the journey of life so my strategy is to do a bunch of activities to get my blood flowing. I like to diversify. Every time I work out, I don’t want to tune out or automate my way to being healthy. I want to be present and feel the workout. So I’ll go trekking, biking, lifting, swimming, snowboarding, surfing, climbing, and even yoga because all together, it never feels old. A motto that I usually go by:

It’s not about the results, but the journey. 

So going back to goals, are these genuine activities that you enjoy. Sometimes they don’t even have to lead up to health, money, fame, etc, but just hobbies? Have you tested it out and fallen in love with it. I’m talking about the kind of love where someone tries scuba diving once and quit their job to become an instructor kind of love. Because every day you do it, you are not doing it to get better mainly, but you just simply have a genuine connection with it. 

One of my passions

I am not writing because it’s a trend. I don’t have a need for a nice portfolio of blogs for my resume either or an urge for fame. I just have a magnetic desire to do it. The funny part is that I’ve been journaling my whole life but never realized how much it means to me. It’s always been a beautiful way for me to step out of the rat race and simply experience life meaningfully. I write because I love it. It makes me feel alive, it activates a different part of my brain where it feels like I’m having a conversation with another part of myself, and it almost feels therapeutic. I’m now moving to a public blog because I’ve learned so much in the process, I wish to share some of the lessons I’ve picked up and hopefully help another soul out there. In addition, I also want to slowly ring awareness of mind games. Starting this blog was on my bucket list for the year and writing on it has just been a true joy of mine. 

When you look back, what do you want to remember?

If you fill life with meaningless goals, one day, you’ll look back and may be overwhelmed with regret. We have a lot of distractions around us telling us how we should live life but in the end, we will wonder what were all those self-help books even for? Now, I don’t want to sound like a hypocrite here since I’m sharing ideas to help others but a common theme of mine isn’t telling you explicitly how to live life but rather, guiding you to enjoy an authentic life and in the process, be naturally happy. If you step out every day, looking for new experiences, life will open many doors because that’s how beautiful life is. As for me, just because I have all my physical activities and writing, does it mean I’ll stop? Nope, I’m hungry for all the treasures life has to offer me. I recently learned Spanish because I love to venture out of my bubble and connect with more people out there.

If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.

Nelson Mandela

I want to try music next so I will attempt some lessons in playing the drums, singing, and in the process, experimenting with some new musical instruments I never knew about or exploring other doors life opens up for me. That being said, for your next goal or new years resolution, I recommend looking at activities that you used to do as a child, or even better, go out there and try some really random activities, you’ll be shocked at what you find. Just don’t do it because everyone else is.