Balance, Meaning and Living Well

The more I pursue my passions and my life's ambitions, the harder it becomes to live an equal and balanced life. We try to do what we love, but when we are always doing what we love, is that a selfish thing to do? Is it right to ignore the needs of people around us and completely engross ourselves in our own passions and our own wants and goals? It seems there is a fuzzy line between being ultimately happy for ourselves and being negligent to the needs of others in our life.


Lets face it, nobody can survive being alone in this world, that just goes against the principle designs of our social structure. Humans thrive on each other and our individual contributions towards the well being of our society. But it seems so many people are unhappy serving a role in life which benefits others and not themselves. On the opposite end of the spectrum, someone who completely envelops their life on becoming ultimately and purely happy for themselves is acting in a way that could be harmful to the people around them. Even if I were to claim that I don't need others in my life, and don't love anyone aside from myself (this clearly isn't the case) there would still be others who depend on me in some way or another, and who are affected by my actions on a regular basis. I'm talking about family, close friends, and anyone else who has been affected by me living my life the way I do. So is it right to go ahead and neglect the needs and wants of those people and live life solely for myself? I think not.

What I am starting to realize the more I push myself to the limit of my comprehensible level of existence, happiness and peace, is that I often push others out of my life to focus completely on my own ambitions. This is an unhealthy thing. People need to dream of course, but it is hard to actualize those dreams without the love and support of others. If I die tomorrow "doing what I love" I would die a peaceful and idealistic death, one in which I would probably be very happy with. However, the people who loved me and depended on me, who I left behind, would have to deal with the unresponsible reprecussions of my actions.

What I need to do is find a balance between doing what I love, and being with the people who I love. In this way I can live my life in an unselfish way that reflects a combination of my passions as well as the passions of others. I do what I do because it makes me happy, but I would love for others to be happy with what I do as well. It is a tricky place to be in, and an extremely complicated way of living my life, but in order to further grow and to reach further peace in my life, I have to earn the love of others, and surround myself in it.