Self Improvement : What’s the Point?

I’m often saddened by others lack of motivation to improve themselves. When I see someone who could be doing so much better if they only put forth the effort, I see opportunity wasted. I think that, maybe they are satisfied with their current level of achievement and that they are happiest where they are at. They seem content enough. If someone can be happy on the path of least resistance, why can’t I. What’s the point of continually trying to improve myself?

But I can’t accept putting in less effort than I know I can give. That’s just how I’m wired. I always want to see how much farther I can go in whatever I do. It’s not about money, power or success. If it were, I would have been filthy rich a long time ago. It’s always been about being better than I was yesterday and discovering who I was meant to be. One may think it is a difficult life to be driven all the time, but I consider myself blessed to have the desire to improve. When I see people going through life day by day, just waiting to grow old and die, I am thankful for the struggle. It’s the struggle that keeps away the drudgery. Everyday is a new challenge.

Saying we all want to be happy is like saying we all like to eat. We have different preferences or flavors of happiness. Some want a sweet but simple life while others what something more hot and spicy. I want something more complex, subtle and wholesome. Sure the way I live would seem difficult but it’s an acquired taste.

I don’t think true happiness is something you can be given. It’s something you have to work for to truly appreciate. There are so many real life stories of how the offspring of wealthy parents grow up to be miserable and depressed often turning to drugs to escape. It must be to wake up everyday and not having to do anything. But then there are some wealthy people who find purpose and challenge in charity or building their companies to new heights.

Bill Gates was a man who had more money than anyone would ever need. So much money that he decided to give most of it away. He and his wife have dedicated the rest of their lives to helping others. They are currently working to rid the world of a number of deadly diseases. For his children, he was quoted as saying that he was leaving his children enough money so they do afford to do anything they wanted but not so much that they could afford to do nothing.

There’s the fantasy of being super rich and having mansions, yachts and fancy cars. Bill Gates version of the rich life is spending time in the most poverty stricken locations on Earth helping save the lives of millions. Rather than shelter himself from the realities of poverty, he went to fight it where it thrives.

We each have our own standards of happiness. Don’t accept the default version but rather find your own happiness and work towards it. You may not achieve everything you can imagine but on the way there you may find the happiness you seek.