My interests and goals in life.

[Richard]

Everybody, tonight was a night that changed my life, in, that it solidified my future, and gave me a huge dream that has become my inspiration. At first, I chose to go into psychology in high school, I made the decision to major in therapy because I've always loved helping other people, it's really always been my calling. I'm still going to major in therapy, but tonight, I've developed even higher aspirations. Gentleman, I want to influence the lives I touch, and I want to add value to every life I touch. In this world, I want to show people that happiness is not money, power, sex, or prestige, happiness is something you create for yourself, and everyone can do it. "Light" turned me on to the book "How to Win Friends and Influence People," by Dale Carnegie, this book has furthered my dream. Carnegie shows how even the most minimal things bring happiness to a life, complimenting a person, talking about what another person is interested in, taking a genuine interest in other people, and living to listen to other people is a key to immense happiness in one's own life. I have always been this type of person, I didn't change myself or transform, my personality, and my aspirations have just become enhanced. Tonight, I feel incredibly happy, and fortunate to have what I have in life. I want to add value to others lives, I cannot change their intelligence, their family, their looks, but I can change how they think and how they feel. In the future, I want to show people how to be happy, I want to take people who are sullen, and grief stricken, and show them their way to happiness. I want to take lives and change them for the better. I'm only 18, and I have found a very strong motive! This is my firm belief! This is what my life is, this is what I want to do, I want to leave my mark on humanity, and give people a reason to live forward instead of just live. Life is too precious to be wasted, and time is too short to be spent on grief and pain. Please wish me luck in my future, I truly want to make my dreams come to fruition.
-Richard :,)

 

[Ross]

It's nice to find your calling at such an early age. I feel like all us 18-year-olds keep stumbling upon that which we think is the absolute goal, but we tend to be far from any practical applications of it. Here's some advice that may come in handy:

- Change through internal systems is simply a short term solution. Look for ways to enact environmental, hands-on changes. Some examples of this are: instead of telling yourself that you feel like a sexually satisfied man, actively seek out the method to achieving sexual satisfaction. When it comes to happiness, simply telling people to be happy is a very short-term solution. They may say they feel happy one day, and the next they are at square one until they remember to stay happy, and they put on a fake guise. They may tell themselves they feel respected, but garnering disrespect from a spouse and co-workers shows the reality that they are not. Feel-good nonsense won't fix things; it will simply provide an alternate reality to operate under for a short period of time.

- Incorporate empathy into every interaction you have with people. Understand that someone who is feeling depressed is that way for a multitude of environmental factors, and seek to replace those factors with positive, uplifting ones.

And, perhaps most importantly:

- Get as many viewpoints and reference points as you can. A bird who feeds off one hand may never know what it's like to feed off better, healthier hands which increase their knowledge. Become a bird who is constantly seeking out other opinions on things, and do not be quick to dismissal.

Good luck out there.

 

[Richard]

Ross, I sincerely appreciate your advice and your support. There's honestly too much for me to write to get my point across as clearly as I'd like, but it seems like my entire life has been geared towards helping others. Even things that naturally come to me like the ability to empathize with anyone, or my ability to accurately read a person's emotions at any given time, things like that that most people don't have.
From the way it sounds, you've got some information in psychology, because the way you talk about seeking sexual satisfaction is using many principles from cognitive-behavioral therapy, and I've had to help dozens of depressed people in my life. Depression, at least not the most severe cases, are actually much easier to cure than people think.

I sincerely agree with you on the viewpoints though, it's actually something I've been doing without being conscious of it. In quite a few of my posts I've mentioned that I have a genuine interest in other people, and actively seek out their advice on everything because Ralph Waldo Emerson stated that “In my walks, every man I meet is my superior in some way, and in that I learn from him.” And I've always had this outlook, but have even more strongly embraced it as of late. I am by no means a singular thinker, I am very open minded and always anxious to learn as much as I can.

As far as influencing other people, and showing them that they can create their own happiness. I wrote that in a rush the night that I did because I had had a moment of clarity talking to my friend about a loved one's death, and had thought about everything in this world, and thought about everything in the Dale Carnegie book and how the book had strengthened what I already believed and knew. The book was a stepping stone for me, and was a catalyst to further my inspiration in all that I do, in every interaction I have now, I seek to make the other person feel important, I seek to make the other person feel happy, and thus, makes me feel happy. I want to teach this to other people by example, learning by example.

There's honestly so much to say on this subject, and I can't get it all out but I know from what you responded with that you know what my goal is, that you understand what I'm trying to say amongst my rapid thoughts. I thank you so much for your response and your support Ross, I look forward to anything else you have to say =)

-Richard