I can't speak for everyone, but most of my nights are spent contemplating life, and I believe
many of you do the same. Nowadays, I don’t stay up too late due to school, but the day I wrote this article was a Saturday, which means I had all the time in the world to stay up and overthink. So, accompany me as I navigate my thoughts, in the hope that you organize yours too.
Unpopular opinion, but overthinking can be good sometimes. If you don't spend time questioning life, how will you ever discover your life's purpose? It is only when you question something that you’ll find an answer to it. Recognizing your life's purpose is important since these goals give you motivation during challenging mental periods. This can be anything, from wanting to help people, to wanting to travel across the globe. There is no such thing as an insignificant goal, as long as it satiates you. Remember that even having a goal makes you much more connected to life than so many others around you. The question “Why do I even exist?” has more significance than you think, as long as you don’t consider it to be a rhetorical one.
I often ask myself this question- “Is what we perceive as good, actually good good?” This question arose in my mind after listening to the following lyrics from Counting Stars-
“And I don't think the world is sold
On just doing what we're told
I feel something so right
Doing the wrong thing
And I feel something so wrong
Doing the right thing”
When you consider it, our actions perceived as good are simply a product of societal teachings that have moulded us our entire life. Our morals simply exist because we are taught to look up to ones with desirable traits, and because those who lack those ideals are punished. In essence, morals are essentially built upon societal norms. And norms are not stable as they keep changing with time. An instance of this can be observed in how gender norms have drastically changed over the years. In the olden days, pink used to be associated with masculinity and dresses and makeup were made specifically for men. Now it’s the complete opposite and any man who likes pink, wears dresses and/or makeup is called gay. If that is possible, then the same thing is also possible concerning morality standards. It is scary to think that what we now think is morally correct may differ from that of future generations. If we think about it for a second, with passing time the population will increase, so there won't be enough resources for everyone. So what if murder will be favourable, as at that point, it'll basically be protecting the environment? Though it may be a hot take, there is enough logic and reasoning behind it to make it possible. Even if we assume that the morality norms never change, since most aspects of life are not black and white and lie in grey regions, what we think is good is seldom ever completely good.
Well, that’s enough contemplating life for today and I hope you don’t start contemplating more stuff than you did before after reading this. ‘Night, hope you sleep well tonight :)
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