Constant challenge, constant flux, constant chaos - but this doesn't make me "strangely unfulfilled". I feel horrible if everything stagnates for longer than, say, a week.
Well, obviously! Everyone agrees with that. But that doesn't mean shunning option 1. When I was 25 I THOUGHT it did, but I definitely don't think so now. Contentment is hard and creative work. I'll write about this on my journal now.
I think that's a surprisingly easy question to answer, basically because the first one is the only one which says 'happy'. (Assuming it doesn't mean that you're quite happy to die after all those boring years). And I'd rather be happy than achieve some abstract goal (e.g. power). The big flaw in the question is that it assumes that 'quiet contentment' leads to happiness, but 'constant challenge' will somehow leave you feeling 'unfulfilled' (whereas I think the opposite would more likely be true for me) and that constant thrills and entertainment are likely to result in a lack of deep connections, and so on.
Now, I know that the question isn't necessarily assuming that, but is merely saying "if you had to choose, which is more important to you?" but I am going to persist in taking it too seriously because I think it is a division which really does exist in people's minds; certainly it does in mine and it is one of those questions which I ask myself all the time in the silent watches of the night. And I think - or at least I would like to think - that it is actually a dangerous and reductive assumption that leads to seeing things in black and white. I think it is at least theoretically possible to achieve some sort of a balance, in which you aren't being frantically cannoned from one upheaval to another resulting in ultimate nervous breakdown, but you do benefit from occasional pirate abductions. ;-)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-23 04:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-23 05:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-23 06:19 pm (UTC)Lifespan is measured in experiences, not years or minutes.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-23 07:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-23 05:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-23 06:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-23 07:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-23 07:27 pm (UTC)Now, I know that the question isn't necessarily assuming that, but is merely saying "if you had to choose, which is more important to you?" but I am going to persist in taking it too seriously because I think it is a division which really does exist in people's minds; certainly it does in mine and it is one of those questions which I ask myself all the time in the silent watches of the night. And I think - or at least I would like to think - that it is actually a dangerous and reductive assumption that leads to seeing things in black and white. I think it is at least theoretically possible to achieve some sort of a balance, in which you aren't being frantically cannoned from one upheaval to another resulting in ultimate nervous breakdown, but you do benefit from occasional pirate abductions. ;-)
Or something.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-23 07:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-23 07:34 pm (UTC)*hugs you*