To feel as if life is worth living we must have a few key items. We must have our health, a roof over our heads, enough food in our stomachs, and love. For some people this might not be enough. Some of us cannot survive without ambition, and drive, and success. Personally, I think think these things come second.
I have an aunt that says that for a woman marriage is the most important thing in the world, that no woman can be happy without a man. I think this is ridiculous. Marriage is important, to both sexes, but it is not the end all and be all to life. Love and marriage are not even synonymous with each other. Two people can happily be together for years without any further commitment from one another. I firmly believe this, as long as the two people do strongly love each other. If that love isn't there, then they shouldn't bother with the commitment to begin with. The only reason people need that endorsement of their love, is because they do not trust each other. Not that I blame them. Trust has to be earned, it should not be freely given. We all do little things in out daily lives that make others question our behavior. We are innately curious creatures, prone to asking each other, "why?" when we should instead leave well enough alone.
It's amazing actually that there are people out there that manage to stay in long term relationships whether it's with a friend, a parent, or a beau (boo for you modernists). We are taught at such a young age that we cannot trust, how do we, or some of us anyway, overcome this?
I think I somehow missed my point. What makes life worth living? I guess it's something different for everyone. So what makes me happy? I enjoy security and stability in my life. Surprises make me nervous, depending of course on the level of the surprise. I do not enjoy change all that much, in fact, mostly, I downright hate it. I like spending time with my friends, and my boyfriend, even though as far as I am concerned this does not happen often enough. I enjoy planning my future. I picture myself with my loved ones in my apartment sitting on the Lancaster couch from Restoration Hardware (I love that damn couch!). I enjoy writing, and making up stupid meaningless little stories. I do enjoy my time spent alone as well, really. I find thinking fun. I actually think one of my greatest joys in life comes from planning. Planning parties, planning for the far future, the near future, meals to cook. If I can plan for it, I'll try to do it. I like the planning more than the events themselves. Spontaneity is good too, up to a point. When I cannot guess what's going to happen in the future, I get nervous. I never know what's going to happen for sure, none of us do. Sometimes though we can have an idea. When the idea suddenly is changed on us though... I find it disconcerting.
Am I happy? I have my health (as far as I know), I have a roof over my head, I have enough to eat, and at least I think I have love. My life should be worth living. I do not want to give it up, but no, at the moment I am not happy. I am confused. I feel hurt and somewhat betrayed. I'm angry. I am not always right, but I am not always wrong either. I do not have a degree in psychology, I don't even have a degree in English yet, but I am not an idiot. There are some things in life that we cannot control, sometimes, most of the time, our happiness is among them. What we can control, we should hang on to though. We will not always be happy in our lives, and sometimes we have to make a big change in order to achieve that happiness, but most of the time we have to muddle through and find happiness in another area of our lives.
That's life. Why can't people accept that?
