What is YOUR Attitude Towards Life?
The Relationship Between Attitudes Regarding Life and Outcome in Life
I. What is LIFE? It is HOW One Sees and MAKES IT?
As the adage goes, life is what one makes of it. People were inculcated with the premise that one gets out of life what he/she puts into it. There is no escaping this issue. However, there is an underlying factor regarding the scenario of life. One's attitude and approach towards life oftentimes determine the type of life he/she will have and how he/she will overcome obstacles.
II. There are DIFFERENT Attitudes and Approaches to Life
There are different philosophies and approaches to life as there are people. Many factors influences a person's attitude towards life. They can be socioeconomic, emotional, psychological, and/or other related factors. It goes without saying that one's socioeconomic situation is influential how he/she approaches life and what his/her attitude towards it. A person's emotional status is another factor as to how he/she feel about life. Another component regarding how a person feel about life is his/her psychological makeup.
III. People to Whom Life is a VERY SERIOUS Matter Indeed
Some people contend that life is a serious matter. In fact, they see life as a business undertaking. They regard life as comprised of responsibilities and obligations that must be faced and taken care of. Responsibilities and obligations are the most important things in their lives. Joy and happiness are secondary concerns to them.
They maintain that the barometer of maturity is being able to fulfill one's obligations and responsibilities. They are not ones to have a frivolous attitude towards life. To them, this is the epitome of immaturity and irresponsibility. The idea that life should be a joyous affair is a total anathema to them. They see that attitude as the height of utter lackadaisicalness. They further proclaim if such an attitude was adopted, nothing would get done.
Their main purpose in life is doing what is needed to be done in order to succeed and maintain a reasonable life standard. They see pleasure and other forms of joys as something to be indulged in as infrequently as possible. In their purview, pleasure and joy oftentimes distract from the serious business at hand.
To them, people who approach life more lightheartedly and playfully are immature and hedonistic children who need to grow up and live in the real world. They believe that life is duty, obligations, and responsibilities, not being in pursuit of aimless fun and happiness. Happiness to them is fulfillment of responsibilities and a job well done. Happiness? Fun? DON'T have time for that.
IV. Those to Whom Life is a Constant UPHILL Battle Which They DON'T Seem to Win
There are those to whom life is very daunting and utterly devoid of any forms of happiness and joy. To them, life is only about mere survival, nothing more, nothing less. They are proverbially just above drowning in all aspects of their lives. They must constantly work just to break even. No, not to break even, just to receive mere crumbs.
They know they are barely surviving. Yet they believe that they are inputting more into life than they are getting out.of it They feel that life has given them the shaft so to speak. They see life as a laborious uphill struggle, becoming more so with each passing day. Life is bare survival if that. They are in constant striving mode. If they make it that day, in their eyes, they are doing fine. They see life as a perpetual series of work and struggle. They feel as if they will never arrive.
V. HELL is Better Than the Life Some People Have to ENDURE
There are others who are on the periphery of life to say the least. They see life as bleak hopelessness and utter despair. They are the bottom of the bottom. Such people are in very dire straits in more ways than one. They do not have even the basics of life. To put in more succinctly, many of these people do not have a place to call home. They are in an extremely stressful life situation. They oftentimes do not where they will be next or how they will survive.
They are at a level below the basic survival mode. They have to be acutely aware of their immediate surroundings in order to survive even at the most basic level. If they become unobservant of those immediate surroundings even once, they could be in a more perilous situation which could include even their lives. They are in the darkest, most abysmal hell.
Many become abjectly dejected, only hoping to die. They feel that the situation could not get any worse than it already is. They are in the worst imaginable situation. They see death as an escape from their hellish existence. To them, there is nothing else, all is gone. However, there are a few resilient ones who develop a fierce determination to overcome their extreme adverse life situation.
VI. Those Who View Life as the ULTIMATE Conquest
There are people who believe that life is a contest and about conquest. Their attitude and approach towards life as that of a predator. They believe in the philosophy of the survival of the strongest, most cunning, and fittest. They are of the school that either one owns his/her life or he/she will be owned and at the mercy of others.
Their main aim is to win and be number 1. Well, to be number 1 or nothing at all. To be second place is a sign of defeat for them. They are beyond striving and surviving. They want it all in every way possible and they will exert any means and methodology to achieve their goals.
They want to be at the top of everything. They know that at the top, they will have power, ownership, and mastery over their lives. They will also have more life choices.Their philosophy is the more life choices, the better. They do not intend to answer to anyone. No one OWNS them. They want to run the show or die trying. They are very much aware that at the top, life is indeed sweeter and the pickings are good.
VII. People Who See Life as MERE PREPARATION
There are those who regard life as mere preparation. They are on this earth to live a life according to a particular preordained and/or prescribed code. They believe that they are not to deviate from such or they will face retribution and/or punishment of one kind or another. They see life as merely transitory with the true life being in the hereafter.
They have a quite austere view of life. They see life as joyless, almost as a penance. They feel that life should not be enjoyed and savored at all. They believe that if they enjoyed life, they would be committing some type of moral transgression. They further contend that the enjoyment and savoring of life would be a distraction from what they believe to be the more important aspects of life. To them,the main purpose of life is to only to be fully prepared and worthy for what lies ahead in the afterlife.
VIII. Going Through the Motions of Life, Same Old, SAME OLD
Other people perceive life as a constant ongoing treadmill. Such people just go through the motions of life. They can be classified as the living dead. They are mere automatons. They are merely passive receptacles regarding life.
They merely endure and/or just barely tolerate the so-called daily travails of life. They are not even alive in the proverbial sense. They just exist. Life is just a constant treadmill for them with only death as the final relief.
Life to these people is quite a monotonous affair. Each day to them seem to be the same as the day before ad infinitum. Their lives are just one ever continuing gray purgatory. One can wonder why be given the precious gift of life if one does not fully appreciate it and use it to be fully engaged in and savor it in all its wonders and juiciness.
However, this philosophy falls on such people's deaf ears. They prefer to mindlessly meander through life as if they are in a haze. Such people lead a totally purgatorial life of not even quiet desperation. To have quiet desperation, there have to be an inking and admittance of something being amiss. They neither have the inkling nor the wherewithal to admit this about themselves. Their attitude is utter and abject resignation.
IX. To Some, Life is a Grand and GLORIOUS Adventure
There are people to whom life is a grand, glorious adventure. To them, life is nothing if not full of risks and adventures. They say the hell with rules as rules interfere with the process of life. They also believe that rules are for the more timid and cautious type of people.
They argue that there is only one life and they intend to live it to the fullest and utmost juiciness. Life is a peak experience for them. In fact, it is the ultimate peak experience. There is nothing that they will not do or experience in order to live life the way it was meant to be lived
They are definitely not afraid of life. They fully and passionately embrace life, letting it envelop them. They refuse to be merely spectators in life. They are consciously proactive regarding their attitude and approach to life. They want to live life without any regrets whatsoever.
They feel that the majority of lead fearful and half-lives. They contend that people really want to lead more exciting and adventurous lives but are afraid to do so because of fear of social approval and adherence to social conventions.Well, that is THOSE PEOPLE'S loss, not theirs.
X. To Others, Life is a Beautiful Journey of Continuous Growth and a GIFT
There are people who approach life joyously, fearlessly, and with gratitude. They act as IF. Yes,they are THERE. They refuse to let outside indicators determine their happiness and peace of mind. Everything is an attitude and mindset to these people.
They believe that life and reality are reflections of their attitude and beliefs. They are not negative thinkers. They see positivity even in the bleakest of situations. When they fail, they view failure as only a detour to success. So what if they fail, they pick themselves up and start all over again. They see failure as a learning process and not the end all.
They are more optimistic than pessimistic. They view pessimism as utterly futile. They maintain that life is too short to worry about and/or obsess over the so-called negative aspects. They are happy people. They see happiness as an attitude which is not always contingent upon outside circumstances. They assert that a poor person with the right attitude and positive frame of mind is oftentimes happier than a wealthy person with the wrong attitude and negative life outlook.
They are also grateful people. They see life as a gift with purpose. They view life as too precious to be taken for granted. They regard such a cavalier attitude to be quite wasteful and an affront to the magnificent gift of life. They contend that life should never be squandered or used unwisely but to be used for intentional purposes.
They also see joy and happiness even in the simplest of things. They are fully aware that no one owns anything or anyone. Everyone and everything is an individual entity. They believe in respect for life in all its majesty. Life is indeed a gift for they have only a limited time to live.
Conclusion
There are as many attitudes towards life as there are people. Some people see life as a long, tedious, drawn out process to be endured while others strongly contend that life is to be lived at full force. Many factors influence how people perceive life. Those factors include socioeconomic, emotional, psychological, and/or other related factors. There are people who are passive, believing that they are the victims of life whereas there are others who approach life joyously and with gratitude. Each person has a different attitude towards life. Only HE/SHE can determine how his/her life will go.
What is LIFE
Describe your attitude towards life?
© 2013 Grace Marguerite Williams