We are used to seeking global goals and explanations for every step we take. However, according to psychologists, the constant race for "meaning" often deprives us of the most important thing — the ability to simply live here and now.
Many believe that life must have a higher purpose — in children, love, career, or money. We set goals for ourselves, achieve them, set new ones — and so on endlessly. But meaning, as psychologists note, does not exist on its own. We create it.
"There is no meaning in children, money, success, or love," psychologists believe. "There is only what you yourself fill your life with."
It emphasizes that the desire to live "for a purpose" makes a person a hostage to expectations. We study for a profession, work for a vacation, rest to work again. But in doing so, we lose life itself — the one that happens between these points.
When a person realizes that they create meaning themselves, freedom emerges. Then happiness ceases to depend on a partner, appearance, status, or the amount of money. It becomes an internal state that can be cultivated from simple joys and mindfulness.
A Japanese psychiatrist notes that constantly comparing oneself to others is a source of stress and dissatisfaction.
"The words 'it should be this way' are unnecessary baggage that hinders progress," says the expert.
By freeing oneself from these imposed expectations, a person finally begins to live their own life — not for something, but simply because they have it.
