Navigating Life’s Cycles to Find Meaning
Oversimplifying life into 3 Phases
Writing this article feels like a repetition. Time and time again, I have tried to figure out what the meaning of life is — my life, to be specific. And time and time again, I have no answer to it.
In my 23 years of living, there are moments and periods where I am enjoying life, where life feels meaningful. There are also times when I don’t think and feel much about life; I simply move with it. And also times like now, when I am in a slump, wondering how I got here and, more importantly, how to get out of here.
Today, I hope to break down the different phases that makeup life and hopefully find some form of intuition and understanding behind these phases.
Phase 1: Enjoying Life
I love this phase. This is the phase where I am grateful to be alive and living. These are moments where I feel like I am in the moment and control of my thoughts. And from my experience so far, there are a few triggers that lead to this phase:
- Spontaneous Decisions
- Doing useful work
- Solitude
- People
Ok, these are extremely vague terms, but I’d like to attempt breaking them down.
Spontaneous
For myself, spontaneous decisions usually bring about excitement, and I suppose that is natural. The anticipation and anxiety of not knowing what comes next raise our interest level and bring some form of energy into our lives. For example, going on a trip without much planning or, a more personal recent example, cycling a good 30 minutes at the park after dinner on a workday to grab some McDonald’s ice cream.
Unfortunately, a downside of spontaneity is that it is somewhat limited. For example, the next time I decide to do the same and cycle to grab ice cream, the activity won’t feel as mysterious and unknown, as I have seen the outcome once. Hence, spontaneity is somewhat limited by our environment. If you live in a city that is small in size, you have fewer permutations and combinations of things to do, which means fewer spontaneous decisions.
Doing Useful Work
This is heavily tied to my career, I guess. Personally, there are times when I am looking forward to each day as I am feeling motivated, and a big part of it is because I am doing work where I have either 1) an impact on the project or 2) the work itself is meaningful. For example, when I am given more authority and responsibility over a certain project, I will gain some ownership and feel that the work is more meaningful.
Solitude
This is an interesting aspect that I have only experienced within the past 1–2 years, and it’s the aspect that I struggle most to explain. At least for myself, being alone and listening to certain music personal to me triggers this feeling. It brings you out of context, zooms you out of proportion, and makes you feel deep/peaceful at the same time. It makes you grateful for the small things in life and grateful for where you are in life. Let me recall an instance where I experienced this. Last year, when I was interning in Stavanger, Norway, alone, I loved to take walks around the small city while listening to music through my headphones. The songs I listen to are “Promise,” “Old Pine” by Ben Howard, and “Holocene” by Bon Iver. And I always feel the same sensation when I reach my favourite spot under the highway next to the fjord waters. It temporarily takes you away from reality and into a different world.
People
This is, well, quite simple to understand. Some days when you are hanging out with your group of friends, family, or loved ones, doing nothing interesting like having a meal together or playing basketball, you just enjoy it. You look forward to it, and time simply flies.
Phase 2: Going Through Life
Perhaps most of our life is in Phase 2. I mean, if we always think about life and its purpose, it can get tiring too. I think Phase 2 is what most people describe as the boring aspects of life. Most of our time is spent doing work, and most of the time, the work we do won’t be as meaningful as in Phase 1. Hence, quite often, we do things going through the motions. We wake up, go to work, eat lunch, go to work, eat dinner, rest, sleep, repeat.
It is not entirely a bad phase, as this is the phase of life where we accumulate experience, knowledge, and money, but it is the phase where we sometimes regret it in hindsight as our youth and energy get drained away.
Phase 3: What is Life??
And oftentimes, after a while in Phase 2, most of us hit Phase 3. There is a sudden realization, “What am I doing with my life?” We fall into a state of slump and sadness and ponder how we are spending our invaluable lives. Of course, some of us are less lucky as we don’t have the luxury of falling into Phase 3 since we have bills to pay. Regardless, this is the phase where we try to find a way out.
For many, a temporary solution or band-aid is to go for a short trip to a different country or do something different like going to new classes or buying a new gadget. This temporarily brings you to Phase 1, then slowly to Phase 2, and back to Phase 3.
For others, it may mean quitting their job entirely. This is getting more common recently, with many travel influencers quitting their day jobs. Perhaps because of the possibility of earning while travelling, this is gaining traction fast.
Meaning in All Phases
Clearly, the goal is to always be in Phase 1 and that’s something I hope to achieve. There are probably more than three phases of life and I am oversimplifying things. This piece was written in two sittings so please forgive me if the piece appears unpolished (Recently, I have been trying to avoid overthinking).
As usual, I am looking forward to your insights too. Have a great day/week/month/year!
