From the onset, this is a difficult question to answer. It takes a lot of hubris to truly think you have the important things in life figured out. Of course, if that’s what you were expecting to get from this piece, it’s a good idea to lower your expectations. The best way for you to live your life and ultimately determine what is important is unique to only you.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some surprising ways to help clear your mind on this subject, even if it’s the first time you’ve thought about it. These aren’t all of the qualities of life that social media encourages you to think is important, either.
Sadly, the digital age has allowed people to harness many negative aspects of connections, mainly in the form of envy. When you get on the web, you see images of beautiful people in southern California and think you are supposed to look like them. The top picks on TikTok influence you to take different paths in your daily routine than you normally would. Even subsequent YouTube channels that explore vacation rentals in places like Savannah, San Francisco, or Panama City Beach create a longing in your heart to live there. At first, it is harmless, but you then you eventually come to resent the world in which you live. These online personalities cause discomfort in your soul and you come to believe that not living like you’ve been shown is a life of unfulfillment.
Thankfully, these aren’t the ideals you should aspire to find when searching for what is important in life. It requires self-reflection. It requires seeking out understanding in the people, places, and things we choose to fill our lives with, not some concept to attain.
When you want to experience self-reflection, there are some aspects of your life that you’ll want to evaluate. Some behaviors you’ll want to note such as your faith, your relationships, and your understanding of joy.
Faith
If fear caused humans to act, then faith caused humans to act with a greater purpose. Faith isn’t necessarily organized religion, though it often appears in that form. When considering what is important in life, you’ll want to think about where, if at all, you place your faith.
Perhaps, you do choose your faith to be in the power of God. There are stories being written every day about the power of faith in God. Consider the novel Cole & Sav By Cole Labrant and Savannah Labrant, which highlights their story of redemption, faith, and the important things in life. Their tale of two popular YouTube channel personalities who were able to overcome their downfalls and become a public love story has helped hundreds of people realize what is important.
If you aren’t devoted to organized religion, you can still feel faith. According to National Geographic, there is a growing trend of more people being agnostic. These people are still able to find purpose and meaning in their lives; in fact, several devote their lives to working towards a greater purpose, though they know not its name. This can take many forms.
Ultimately, faith provides a stable foundation on which to build one’s life. You don’t necessarily need to mimic Savannah Labrant’s lives, but believing in something is important. And with the growing popularity of non-denominal practices, there isn’t as much pressure to join a specific religion. Just have faith.
Relationships
Few things in life will give you as much joy and satisfaction as the relationships you build throughout a lifetime. Whether you grow up in a small town where everybody knows everybody or are one of the locals of a major city, your relationships help define you.
Just as faith comes in many forms, so do your connections. They also come in a variety of sizes and importance.
Probably the first connection you make in life is with your core family. Your parents and siblings. These are the people who you often experience your first and simplest triumphs: learning to walk, to read, and to love. They are often the people through which you experience a series of trials, as well. They challenge you, anger you, and even hurt you. But the bonds you form—or don’t form—with your core family help define you.
When you don’t have that type of connection with this part of your family, people often turn to friends and other family members to create meaningful bonds. Grandparents, coworkers, and lovers all fulfill this void in our life. They become the people you laugh with, confide in, and support you when things aren’t going well.
Relationships you have in a lifetime that need to be considered also include your pets. Dogs and cats have become household staples. You pick them out as a puppy, train them to use a no pull harness, teach them to do tricks, and care for them as they age. You come to love the daily walks you go on. They are as much for you as they are your pup.
This bond, many would argue, is an essential one when determining what is important in life. It. becomes special. A unique aspect of your life that can only happen with your cat or pooch. Relationships become the foundation on which you build memories. They are a perfect fit for the category of what is important in life.
Joy
Perhaps Matthew McConaughey said it best when he described the difference between happiness and joy. That joy isn’t the result of reliance. It stems from your unique design. It is finding pleasure in doing what it is you feel you should be doing. This manifests in millions of ways. Often in simple ways that we don’t appreciate.
It is the trainer who finds joy in helping someone achieve their goals, not in the outcomes of the training. The outcomes will appear if you find joy in the process. It is the pug owner who finds the joy in teaching their pet to walk with a leash. The constant pulling on the back of the harness would drive most people mad, but you are able to overcome until your dog no longer pulls.
It can also be finding bright spots in the world around you. Finding the peace and restfulness of your bedroom. Appreciating your kitchen—it’s dishwasher, microwave, stove, and refrigerator—for allowing you to prove wholesome food for your family. Sitting down with your favorite books to enrich your mind.
Joy means you appreciate the vacations you were able to take last year to the
site for shore eyes. Loving the hot tub shared lounge, and huge fire you had roaring in the fireplace and all of the other holiday home features you loved while there. It’s also the local stores you got to patron while there. Allowing the people, places, and things around you to be bright spots in your life is what joy is all about. Seeking the good in them is important in life.
Though these three aspects of life will be different for everyone, they form a triad to build upon. They create the foundation through which you can begin to determine what is important in life. Evaluate them not with a critical eye, but one that tries to seek true reflection.
