GROUNDHOG DAY.
Life is cyclical in nature. As written in Ecclesiastes, there is nothing new under the sun.
On occasion, pattern interrupts occur that break the routine of our everyday lives. However, for the most part, life consists of events that repeat ad infinitum.
We rise and set with the sun, attending to our physical needs and other responsibilities in between. Everything else is a luxury.
Therefore, shy of the exceptional moments, life is effectively on loop, like in Groundhog Day. Like Sisyphus, who was condemned to roll a boulder up and down a hill for eternity, we must live a life that is fundamentally repetitive, for which the only completion we seek can be found in what we most avoid: death.
Let this demystify the illusion of “making it” in life. Such ideals of “making it” and the “American Dream” have pervaded the zeitgeist, taking lives of their own. Keep in mind, their role is simply to be implemented as means to orient and direct ourselves to greater ends.
Setting and achieving goals create purpose and presence in the process of progress, but we must assign these solely as benchmarks and checkpoints, not finish lines. Because truly, nothing in life is over until life is over.
On the matter of ideals, we, as flawed humans that all fall short of the glory of God, pedestalize the ever elusive idea of perfection. This, again, is a false summit. It serves only as a guidepost, the North Pole to the compasses of our lives.
How, then, should we strive to such ideals? How do we “make it,” seek perfection, and live the American Dream?
Let us define the “American Dream” as the perfect life, and “making it” as living this out. What this means individually, let us define for ourselves.
Having established that life is on loop, to structure the perfect life, we need only to structure the perfect day. And to structure the perfect day, we must simply occupy it with perfect decisions. These are those that align with the goals that we have set for ourselves.
Imbue a ritualistic element in your daily proceedings, and let the progression towards your goals impel the motive to continue. When applicable, curb burnout with novelty, in a manner that may also serve to demarcate a psychological reset and a sense of renewal. Life itself will also do this of its own accord.
Now, having internalized these mental models, march on endlessly down the yellow brick road, knowing there is nothing better to do.
On the way, create the meaning you seek.
This is all there is to life.