Something To Chew On.
Perspective has a huge effect on one’s priorities.
That shouldn’t come as a surprise - I mean, if I were living alone, my priority may be focused primarily on myself as I may be in a situation where I don’t have that many people to necasserily think about looking after - although I should imagine I would go out of my way to show a general willing camaraderie and involve others in some of my decision making.
Since I live in a shared apartment with friends, my priorities will no doubt be affected by those I live with, choosing whether or not to put their needs before mine.
Priorities are things that shift on a daily, if not hourly or even more frequently. Whilst in a moment it could be important that I don’t miss that all important tv show, should my best friend suddenly call, I may just hit the record button and sit back and enjoy the chat, instead.
Priorities aren’t always about what’s right and what’s wrong, either. They are judgement calls, usually, about what one can fit in to the time they have, when and how comfortably - and whether one would want to.
My priorities are somewhat domestic despite the fact I could take the easy route. But I choose to be content with, for example, coming home after work and getting dinner cooked by 6pm because it fulfils my main priority for the afternoon: to be able to have dinner with the people I love and enjoy conversation over good food. I do this whenever I can.
That’s another thing: whilst some activities may seem completely unrelated, inevitably they are part of a course that leads one to their ultimate priority, whatever that may be.
Mine?
I think it’s silly to assume that everyone has or can have ONE main priority, or that people SHOULD have one that governs their day-to-day avtivities. At work we are given priorities and goals, yet how one lives outside of the office (oh, please, do let there be life away from work), is completely up to the person in question.
I thought my main priority in life was to have time to do whatever I wanted but, when I was recently forced to stay at home for two days, I found myself rather uncomfortable and depressed, mostly for the fact I didn’t WANT to be home at that point.
So, I suppose, it’s more about having a choice of when to do things… not being forced to take a route in life. I don’t mean having compelte control over life - goodness knows I’d be a very boring person if I only did what I could think of. I think what I mean is having the time to pick the option that makes me or those around me feel happiest (because after all, if they’re happy, so am I).
Sidetrack: There’s a philosophy that if you want to change the world, start by changing yourself, first…
Isn’t that what we all want…? To be happy? Content? I think we all want to be happy when we WANT to be happy. We want to feel as though we chose happiness over whatever other option there was.
I hate being rushed. I hate feeling as though I can’t sit for a moment and look at what the issue is at hand and how best to go about it. I feel I do take a more difficult route and usually far more complicated, but that’s how my brain works - I like to put in as much as possible so that at the end of it, not only have I dealt with the situation at hand, but I’ve managed to deal with other smaller maybe’s and perhaps put down some foundations to be able to deal with the situation better, should it ever happen again.
So, then, there are two (if not more) ways of prioritising: the preventative and the reactionary.
Of course I relish the thought of coming home and monging for half an hour before everyone’s home. But then, I’d have half an hour to think too much and lets face it - that’s bad.
This whole thing has been a massive digression, though.
I began writing because I began pondering on my own priorities and how they had changed since I was a teenager.
A lot of the time I still feel like the person who was sat in the classroom daydreaming about sitting at home watching television and I do a lot to try to recapture the young and creative part of myself.
The part of me that prefers the quiet and surrounded by greenery never did go away.
But when an unlikely aspect of my past (one I thought I was over and didn’t really give two-hoots about anymore) comes back in a very pleasent way, I find myself forced to reconsider whether I would chose to make this a big deal or just accept it as a visit down memory lane and leave it at that.
Of course, it would be stupid to ignore this chance - that’s taken over 10 years for me to grasp it - yet a part of me holds back in a fear that - much like capturing a butterly - my enthusiasm could stifle and ultimately kill this chance I have at enjoying nostalgia in a positive way.
Drawing to a less ambiguous subject, however, choices have had to be made about where and when to place action in my future. I’d never anticipated that part of ‘growing up’ would be this difficult - mostly because, as usual, I didn’t notice when I was doing something undesirable. The good thing, though, is that I have a future to plan for at all and I’m happy, deep inside, that I’ve finally found the path that I am HAPPY with following.
It’s taken so long, guys, for me to find it.
Satisfaction comes in many shapes, my friends. Mine, today at least, comes in personal, though prolific, resolve.
Take it easy.
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) but actually going out and about is great when you have good company. So, thanks to Aidan but I guess it was made more enjoyable by the fact I haven’t been out in a while to then.