If you really want to do something

Knowing what you want to do is half the battle. Most people live their lives blindly desiring the desires of others. You want a Gucci or Prada bag not because you need it, but because everyone else does. That’s how most of us live. We’ve wanted to go where others want to go, we’ve wanted to have what others want to have, and we’ve gone where others are going. We’ve been posting on Instagram, looking happy, and trying to hide our inner emptiness. Maybe the person who wants to be alone and posts his or her life on SNS is really crying out for someone to look at me.

But he knows better than anyone else how empty his inside. We have to face that emptiness. We must start there. The beginning of our journey to find our inner self. The existence of human that is thrown into the world is destined to be empty. Maybe that’s why I pursued more worldly desires to escape that emptiness. We think If we have more, we will be better, if we go up, we will be better, but it won’t change anything. We are what we are.

In fact, it’s up to the individual to decide how to live in the world as long as they don’t harm others. It’s no one else’s business if you choose to live your life that way. But if you want to be something, if you want to have something, you need to pay for it. Because nothing in this world is just given.

My titles these days are much different than before I retired. I’m called Mr. President, Mr. Writer, Mr. Chairman, etc. The people around me have also changed: I’m meeting new people more than I’m meeting people from work. Just three or four years ago, I didn’t realize there were so many poets, novelists, and essayists around me. There are also professors, diplomats, activists, and quite a few solo entrepreneurs. I choose my own identity, but I can see what I’m doing by looking at the people around me. It’s a funny thing about the world, when I get interested in a certain area, there’s a whole new world there that I didn’t see before, and it’s moving with its own ecosystem.

This is because we are designed to always want something. But if you’re going to desire something, desire what you really want. People who are able to face their desires seem to have stronger life energy because they are able to do so.