Nihilism
“Hi there, you doing good?”
“Well, maybe, but when trying to answer that question you have to ask yourself a similar, yet more important question of ‘have I ever been okay?’. I mean, sure, right now I’m doing fine, I live in a nice house, I’m comfortable, I’m not in debt or starving for cash, I have a decent job that pays a reasonable amount, but am I happy? And to answer that question I think you have to look at whether or not in 10 or so years you will still be in the same situation. On one hand if you are then your life is rather boring and you will probably become sick of the same old same old, whereas if your situation changes drastically, either up or down, will you still be the same happy person? If you become poor and have to live on the streets working tough jobs for basically scraps from the dinner table you would be unhappy with your entire life as a little more planning or saving could have gotten you out of this mess, whereas if you become rich and successful you might change so much as a person to where you can’t even recognize who you are, your every move under the watchful eye of a seemingly benevelant, but unforgiving and cruel public. And what if you don’t even make it 10 years? What if tomorrow you go into the doctor for a routine check up and you discover you have stage 4 cancer? What if you get hit by a car on the way home tonight and go into a coma? Will your entire life be worth it? Why even try if everything you do is not going to matter when you die. What’s even the point of living?”
“I suppose you could view it that way, but if everything you do doesn’t matter then why not live life to the fullest? And that’s not to say quit your job and just party all the time, but remember that even though the 9-5 office job is boring and painful the weekend you have to spend with friends having fun and being around them much outweighs those long days doing tough, boring work. And, even though you will work far more than you will have fun, the work days will just blend together and leave less of an impact on your memories than the time you spend with friends, family, et cetera. So, while you could make an argument that in 10 years you will probably be unhappy, the likelyhood that you will be happy is roughly the same chance, so just enjoy life where you are, even if it is tough and boring.”