What Do You Mean By Life?

A few words before I begin with the main subject:

I'm not here to preach about how one must live his or her life. People, I'm just as confused as you are. I just wanted to tell you about how I (try to) define 'life'. 

I hope you guys would love to share your inputs with me. 

***

What do I make of the word life? 

I think it's a very complicated mess.  

I think I can (somewhat) try to explain it by connecting it with a road map. 

(Well, everyone does say that life is a long road trip) 

When you're born, it's really simple. You're walking down a straight lane, a metaled road. There are no bumps and you know what you're heading for. 

Slowly, as you reach your teens, little bumps start forming on that supposedly metaled road. By the time you are sixteen or eighteen, the seemingly straight road is divided into a variety of other roads. You need some time to think what's the best suitable path for you. 

After choosing that path, you're walking. In fact, you're speeding up. The road is turning bumpier and rougher. It's like, you're rushing to the top of the mountain - so the road is getting steeper. It's getting all the more populated. The people around you are pushing you to rush ahead and reach the zenith. There are some green-eyed monsters, trying desperately hard to pull you down and bring themselves up. 

Honestly speaking, this concept is ridiculous. 

But you follow it anyway, because of your greed to reach the summit. 

When you reach the summit and enjoy the glorious view that it can present you with, you realize that you're done with it. You've seen the view and it's not as rosy as you expected it to be. You're buckled with the pressure to stay at the top. You have to balance yourself, you are simply not allowed to indulge in the finer, rawer aspects of life. Instead, you're supposed to earn more and keep your material assets in a steely bank locker. 

Then, you decide that it's high time to resign. You're done with it. You're through. All that excitement is gone. You've seen the darker side - how people do petty things just to get to the top. At first, you'd tried to indulge in some of those things but now, you're positively horrified at your past self. 

Ultimately, you trudge down the mountain. You view the younger ones, now engulfed in the same rat-race in which you had participated, and smile sadly. Like you, they will see the hidden monsters that lie within the supposedly clean race after a long, long time. 

You don't try to stop them, because they won't listen. They are driven by goals, passion, greed and (in some very rare cases) vengeance. Nothing can stop these machines. Nothing at all. 

You trudge downhill and finally, observe what you had missed. You breathe in each breath deeply. Your eyes stare at every single beauty created by nature, trying to memorize them so that you'll never forget it. 

The bumpy road turns smoother and you're walking down leisurely. You're happy with what you've done (even though you still don't like to remember the horrific rat-race). You still have problems, but you can enjoy your life. 

Finally, your road reaches a dead end. Standing at the end, is a cloaked figure also known by the name Death. Mr. Death is an uninvited guest. He can pop in anytime, anywhere. But fortunately for you, he arrived late. 

All your youth, you've tried to escape him. You've feared him. 

What about now? 

You embrace him like an old friend and allow him to take you to your final destination. 

 

***

That, my dear friends, is what I think of life.

A lot of stuff can happen to you. You can lose a lot of people you treasure. You can be forced to witness someone go through a lot of anguish. At times, you'll be the one to suffer a lot. 

Life really is a tangled mess. 

Some scholarly people say that 'life' is a game of choices. You're supposed to choose between various choices, choose you roads, etc. 

It's kind of like gambling. 

According to Albert Camus, "You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never life if you are looking for the meaning of life." 

So all in all, no one really knows what life is really about. 

What I do know is this:

Enjoy your life to the fullest. Try to soak in every memory. Try to memorize the sound of a child's laugh, try to look at the nature - don't glance, you actually look at it, enjoy it. Try to smile and be honest with yourself. 

I would love to hear out your views. 

Take care people, 

Archie.