Wants for the Future

I think going forward toward the future, there are things I want to make sure happen and certain kinds of people I want to be around. More than anything, I believe the next few years should be spent on finding ways to make sure I achieve the goals I have. It may mean some sacrifices on my part, but nothing I can't handle.

I want to be around grateful people.  Nothing breeds ugliness in others like ingratitude. If someone cooks you a meal, thank them for their effort. Be thankful for that meal. Even if it isn't the best meal in the world, it's still a meal you didn't have to cook. If someone else provided you with a home or a car or a major appliance, be thank for these. They may not work the way you want or be up to your standards, but you still didn't have to go through the effort of finding them, paying for them, or securing them. Be grateful that someone did something for you. People who are not grateful are complainers. They are critical. No one wants to be around complainers. No one wants to be around people who can do nothing but criticize situations.

I want to be around people who accept that often life doesn't have perfect solutions. Our choices are rarely easy. Usually, they consist of a lot of pros and a lot of cons.  Our options are often limited. The best decisions are the ones that weigh the most beneficial pros (as in the ones that more toward your larger goals), even if perhaps they have some of the more annoying cons. I think the old adage of Cheap, Good, and Quick triangle is a good example of this. Things can usually be two of the three, but rarely all three. Cheap and good usually isn't quick. Cheap and quick usually won't yield a quality result. And if something is quick and good, it usually costs a lot of money.

I want to be around people who value quiet. I want to be around people who enjoy the harmony of stillness. I want valuable conversation, not just people babbling. I want meaningful discussions. I also want silence. I want to be able to sit in a room with someone and not feel obligated to pay attention to them. I want to be around people with a quiet and easy energy. One of my friends recently apologized to me when I saw her because she felt like she didn't talk a lot. I laughed and told her that I loved it when friendships could reach a point when people could just enjoy each other's company without having to actively engage one another.

I want to be around people who have hobbies, who have things they love, who can find joy outside of themselves, but in ways that don't require other people to be involved. I read about so many people complaining that they are lonely. I don't get this. Being alone is when you can read and work on your hobbies and make plans for your life and daydream about your future. It's the time when you can create. It's the time when you can look for new projects. It's the time when you can nap! Who wouldn't want that? I want to be around people who understand that being alone isn't the problem. What you do with your alone time is the problem.

More than anything, the person I want to be most like all of this is me. I want to live my life in gratitude. I want to accept that decisions can't always be 100% perfect. I want to revel in my quiet time. I want to pursue a life of harmony. I want to have hobbies, and interests, and projects that I work on. I want to have goals that I truly want to achieve (not ones that I vaguely think are the acceptable ones to have). I want to enjoy being alone and use that time to discover more about myself. In short, I want to build a life that is more positive, more emotionally healthy, more mature, and more open. After all, the person I will spend the most time around is me.