Writing

Im lying on my bed in a hotel room, hoping/praying that my roommates will fall asleep, writing to pass time and I wonder, "What am I doing with my life?"

Comments

[Shrink Laureate]

You're doing this

[Solstice Shimmer]

3869430

[Shrink Laureate]

In my experience, that question never has a simple answer. A life is simply too big to summarise so neatly.

First, there are the things you have to do. Studies, job, paying the rent, getting the washing machine fixed, everything that has to happen for life to keep going. You have to do these, and your have to spend most of your time doing them, though less so than in previous centuries or poorer cultures. If you're luckily (and try hard enough), your job is something you enjoy, though even then a job is still a job. Some people do nothing with their lives but work, dedicating themselves to their career, imagining that it defines them. I feel sorry for these people, because they're missing out on so much else. And once they retire, they have a high rate of either suicide or just losing themselves. Don't let anybody make you feel guilty for not giving your career 100%.

Second are the things you do for fun. This is getting drunk with your friends, or playing games or going to the spa or a hundred little things. This is the small scale of happiness, stuff that gets you through your week without murdering somebody.

And finally, there are the things that you actually *want* to do, the things that matter to you. This might be studying part time for a degree, it might be learning to paint, it might be designing a better catflap, it might be writing pony stories, it might be taking photos of garden gnomes atop all the biggest monuments in the world, or it might be raising your kids (not just keeping them alive for 18 years, but properly raising them). A lot of the time, people won't understand what you're doing here. People will ask why you're wasting all your time on that stupid thing when you could be out drinking with them. But this third thing is important.

The details will change - over the decades you'll pick some things up, put others down, change your mind. That's fine. Looking back, writing silly stories about colourful equines may be one silly thing among many.

My own life breaks down roughly into:
1 -- A 9-5 job, and some career-like things outside that eg learning new things, going to conferences etc
2 -- Regular D&D games, weekly anime society, sci fi club, ballroom dancing lessons etc; going to anime conventions, dressed up in silly outfits
3 -- A six-year project to create the best D&D character sheets ever; teaching ballroom dancing at anime conventions; making anime music videos; writing pony fiction; running an anime society; and ensuring that that at least one unemployed friend gets a solid meal and a laugh with friends once a week.

If anything I do too much of the third thing. I have way too many projects on the go, and even more that I'd never get the time to start. Any one of those things is probably forgettable, but taken as a whole, they're what I'm doing with my life.

</sage old man>