Thursday, October 11, 2012

What do you desire?

desire.



"if you say that getting the money is the most important, you'll spend your life completely wasting your time.  You'll be doing things you don't like doing in order to go on living.. doing things you don't like doing.  which is stupid!  better to have a short life that is full of that which you like doing rather than a long life spent in a miserable way."

I honestly haven't liked school much; I don't agree with a lot of what the curriculum deems important to teach.  Don't get me wrong, I love learning, I just don't like the school aspect of learning.  But, as this video so aptly states, "what do I desire"?  That's the problem though.. I don't know.

All my life I've been told "you can do anything you set your mind to!".  That's great, but all that did was broaden the gamut of possibilities.  Rather than hone in on one thing I dabbled in many.  I'm a decent soccer, football and volleyball player now.  I can hold my own in most video games.  I like words and have established quite a lexicon of my own.  I'm now a sponsored wakeboarder/wakeskater.  I've podium'd in skimboarding competitions.  I've had articles I've written published in newspapers.  I've had drawings and paintings displayed at banks and in art shows.  I've had small acting spots in short films.  I've taken part in non-profit organizations and spoken at schools across the state.  I've traveled a bit and been to 46 of the United States.  I've managed my money and am currently finishing my last semester to graduate college with my bachelors degree completely debt-free.  All the while admittedly paying minimal attention in school and still maintaining a cumulative 3.6 GPA.

I don't say all those things to brag, but instead to illustrate that I really have done a lot of things in the short 24 years of life I've had.  Were all of the things I've accomplished things that I desired?  Honestly... I don't know. But I did 'em, and I'm proud of that.  With the end of my collegiate career facing me so ominously and approaching ever so rapidly I'm faced with many choices.  The one that keeps coming back to me though, "what do I desire?".  What DO I desire?...  having applied myself to so many things over the course of time I can honestly say that I do not know now what it is that I desire.  I heard that if you don't know where you're going that any road will get you there.  Looks like I better figure out where I'm going (e.g. what I desire) and get getting it.  All I can say is that up until now I think I've lived a short life full of doing things I like doing.  I just hope I can continue that.

2 comments:

  1. You almost forgot that you know 2.73 languages and that two of those 24 years you served a mission. Good post. Made me think.

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  2. Sad that our existence can so easily be overrun with mundane routines. I know you have worked hard to do the expected- worked hard in that you kept with it and completed your Bachelor degree while not loving the experience. I know you have always wanted to do exciting things that challenged you physically and mentally, I hope that you fall into, or create, the dream job where you can love what you do. If you can't do that, and heaven knows not many of us can, I hope you can find a job where you can keep doing the fun things that make life worth waking up for, to keep your sense of exhilaration and enthusiasm alive. You of all people could do it Gabe, you really go after what you want... when you really want it!!!
    I just hope it doesn't involve motorsicles :)

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