There Is More To Life

There is more to life than a job. Jobs are important – we need them to survive, to feel productive, to contribute to society. But far too often and especially in this part of the world, people become synonymous with their jobs. Work is life rather work is a part of life. I think if we seek jobs, all we will find are jobs. But if we seek vocations, a sense of purpose in how we are productive; if we seek a calling, then we will find more than a job. We will find our contribution to humanity; we will find more to life than a job.

There is more to life than being in a relationship. For many people, we are constantly evaluating and re-evaluating our relationship statuses. Marriage and dating and love in a romantic way is a wonderful thing. But it isn’t all there is. We are whole in the first place without another and we are whole with them. It is a beautiful thing to want to love someone and to want to be with someone, but there are many kinds of love in this life. And as long as we have love that is good and blessed and true, it is not an affront to be without a romantic significant other. If we give love everywhere we go, we will find more to life than being in a romantic relationship.

There is more life than education. Especially, that which is formal. We give education a lot of credit and I am a believer; a recipient of its benefits, and an active participant in education’s formal institutions. But I can’t help but feel that we must seek education in experiences as we interact with people and with places and with things. Degrees and instruction, while useful do not make us who we are. And they do not necessitate that we will become better people. We must seek knowledge and experience even without schooling, and when we do, we find there is more to life than education.

There is more to life than our daily worries, our daily struggles, or everyday errands, and mundane tasks. We wake up, we eat, we work, we rest, we sleep. The routine of life does not give meaning to our lives more than it gives us something to do. We must stop and think and choose spontaneity and adventure and surprises, even in the routines that we choose. Or we become bored with our lives and each other. We must make every day a choice because there is more to life than our daily worries, daily struggles, and everyday errands, and mundane tasks.

There is more to life than this very moment that we are experiencing. Though we are in it and though we relish in it, it does not define our lives. It does not define our capabilities, our hopes, our dreams, and our future. We can dare to look at out lives in a bigger way – a way that we see all of our accomplishments and failures. We can see ourselves as more than just the sum total of  a particular set of problems or a situation or a given moment. There is more to life than merely being, even in this very moment, even if it’s all we are certain to have. There is more to life than this.