Aim Towards an Ideal

There have been times in life where I felt lost and as though I was reaching for something that was always out of my grasp. There was something missing; a hole I tried to fill with hobbies and activities I thought I "should" do. Nothing I tried brought the peace I was looking for. I wasn't searching for something rational, something aligned with a higher goal; I was searching for an arbitrary activity that didn't contain much meaning. What was I missing?

I was missing a goal, an ideal. I wasn't placing value on something of a higher order. We all must orient ourselves towards a higher goal; we must create an ideal for ourselves to live up to. We should investigate what we value and what goals we hold as gospel. Once we have this ideal, we must focus our attention on it; it will drive much of our actions.

When we are living up to an ideal it's easy to stay disciplined, to say no to bad influences, and to do the things you know you should do. Striving towards this ideal gives our lives meaning and purpose; we have a value system to base our decisions on.

What we consider our ideal must be unique to us and mesh with our innate personality and desires. It doesn't matter what we choose as our ideal-the supportive parent, the servant leader, the high performing athlete-what matters is that we aim towards that ideal and live it as best we can.

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