Jan.16.24 - Day 1936 - The road to misery

No one is paying attention to you. No one. As much as you think they are, they don’t care. Live your life. Be happy. Make choices for yourself, not other people. Trying to please other people more than yourself is a road to misery. Why? Because you’re always beholden to someone else’s expectations of who you are. The goal posts always change. They’ll never give you the validation you want. So don’t do it for them, do it for you. Figure out what your desires are and ask yourself why? Why do you want a lot of money? Why do you want a big house? Why do you want a lot of nice things? Why? Do you really want it or just so you can show it to other people? How about if it’s a life you’ve lived your whole life only to realize all the money and things in the world are never gonna make you happy. Ever. You should want those things because you want them, not anyone else. Desire has to be internally motivated rather than externally driven otherwise you’ll never be happy. Be careful about your desires. As Naval said, desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy. Powerful words from a brilliant man. He’s one of those people who understands the world better than you. He knows how insignificant and tiny we are. At the end of the day, no one is paying attention to you.

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