Stop Worrying About Why You're Here

Since the beginning of humankind, scientists, philosophers, and even you and I have been asking ourselves the question with no answer, "Why do humans exist?"

Though this isn't to say there's no merit to the question. After all, we can probably think of quite a few reasons why our presence here isn't always exactly beneficial to the planet. In one way or another, we greatly influence global warming, deforestation, species loss, epidemics, poverty, and so on. At that point, the follow-up question may be, "What's the point, when all we do is cause harm?"

But what if we were to reframe the question and instead ask ourselves, "What can we do while we're here?"

Look at it this way: there are countless living and nonliving things in the world that simply carry out their intended purposes without question. They don't seem to care about the mystery behind the intent - even if we're able to answer that question pragmatically - because they're clearly wasting no time in favour of what ultimately needs to be done.

Sure, they're unable to use language and reason like we do to express themselves in the event they actually do somehow think about it, but their attitude toward life itself goes to show that it might not matter when they're given a chance to participate in the experience while they still can.

So, why not make the experience enjoyable? It would be easier if we focused our attention on what can alleviate hardships in the first place. In a perfect world, we would realise as a collective that there's no reason to cause ourselves or each other stress, trauma, frustration, or harm when all that would do is make everyone unhappy and unwilling to find optimism in anything.

It is true that obstacles test our character and help develop our values, but in learning from the negative experiences we have the power to transition out of the vicious cycle that we've come to know as "reality" if we truly want to see change for the better.

The more we focus on what makes ourselves and/or others happy, the less likely we will negatively affect lives—whether our own or others' - and Earth as a whole. In fact, more often than not when we pursue our own passions we may even feel inspired to use our talents or creations toward helping others or contributing to a greater cause in some way.

In turn, others may feel inspired to give back the same way, because they see that there's hope and a purpose to life at the end of the day. We can go to sleep knowing that we created our own meaning—our own purpose—by humbly accepting life's gracious gifts for what they are and not having them waste away in vain.

Why wait for meaning to present itself to us, assuming that's even possible? Isn't it far more satisfying to use our critical facilities—our own creativity—to earn our right to progression, to happiness? It feels right and more well-deserved this way. Not to mention, we won't just be stuck in one place forever to wallow in our usual—and frankly, unhealthy—pessimism. It's one thing to be aware of the downside, but it's another to not do anything about it.

Or, more accurately, to simply not adopt a different mindset altogether. Anything can be a blessing in disguise when looked at from another angle. If a possibility is feasible, then why not entertain it?

There is nothing stopping us from recovering after a thought that hit us. And there is certainly nothing stopping us from thinking for ourselves. Questioning everything can be intelligent, but crafting our own answers is pure genius.