Why am I doing this

"It is important for us to ask ourselves in every aspect of everything we ever do. Why am I doing this? This can be asked constantly from sun up to sun down. Everyone unconciously asks this towards a lot of things. "Why am I eating dinner?", "Uhh, I'm hungry".

Examining why we are doing what it is that we are doing is the first step to doing what is we need to be doing to get to where we want to be. A simple truth that can change lives. Ask yourself, "Why am I watching television three hours a day?" your answer is likely to be something close to "nothing better to do". Well, the other simple truth is that there is always something better to do. So if you want to watch television the rest of your life then by all means continue. The only person you have to justify yourself to is yourself.

Most people want to accomplish big things. They want to make lots of money, travel the world, run businesses, invest successfully. These all stem from one thing. The desire to feel important. It is one of the most influential desires that people have. Most people don't actively entertain the thought that they like to feel important. They just feel good when they feel important and feel bad when they don't.

There are three things that are plastered into us in America today that are "necessary" in order for a man to be important. Athletic ability, sexual achievments, and economic status. I just finished reading the book "Season of Life by Jeffrey Marx" and he talks in great detail about this. What is most important is to break into people is that those three things are not what is most important.

The problem is everyone thinks that they are, and I mean everyone. So anyone who doesn't think they are not most important might find themselves taking heat for "being different"or not going with the status quo.

Most people's desire to feel important initially begins with wanting to be accepted. So the cycle begins. Everyone has false ideas of importance engrained into them. But the basic need to feel important of all humans crushes most people from being willing to say any different then what everyone thinks. Simply because they want to feel important.

A close friend once told me "Worshipping wealth is not the key to finding happiness in life. However, trying to make enough money to permit us to live out our dreams and travel is a worthwhile goal". That might be the most logical thing I've ever been told. It is the perfect blend of thinking money isn't everything and money is everything. My personal feelings are that money isn't everything, but why not have a lot of it? Sex isn't super important but is natural and good to have safely. Being a super athlete isn't everything but it's good to be healthy and in shape.

Balance really is the key to life. The three things mentioned are certainly important each in their own way. All to often people get caught up with just one. You see if no one had money the world would be hell and we'd probably die. If no one had sex, we wouldn't exist. If athletics didn't exist, we' die. Take out any of the three and it's bad news. Make any of the three your only desire in life and it's bad news. So view it as a pendulum where you ideally should be in the very middle with each one.

What is all too often overlooked is that there are more than these three things. So much more, that lead to so much more, and on and on. The most unhappy people I know have the most money. The guys who get laid the most are going no where in life and are secretly miserable. Great athletes often feel inadequate and under rated and have serious problems.

Keep that last paragraph in context though. I am by no means intending to say money is bad, don't be pro athletes, and die virgins. I am saying the happiest and most content people in any category of money, sex, sports has balance. Anytime you start to lose balance quality of life will be lost also.

Don't think of the writer of this blog as being some perfect person. Or even as that good of a person. The things he says should be taken with a grain of salt as he is as flawed and screwed up as anyone. Maybe more than most. He's just a person who was blessed with being able to write literally and wants to use that gift to say something worthwhile. "

The next three installments will discuss in detail each of the three false senses of importance I mentioned here. After that I will write about whatever I feel motivated to write about. Topics like college life, religion, finances, goals, careers, philosophy, and anything else that is worthwhile. I think it would be beneficial for my writing and your reading if those who read would be willing to give feedback and advice. Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this.

Yours Truly,
Jordan Laubaugh