life doesn't really owe me jack. I'd be really glad if the world doesn't end in 10 years, but that's probably too much to ask.
I would love to be content in life. I have no need for happiness or bliss, not sure what it means to consider oneself happy. The whole concept seems odd to me.
i'm the opposite. I hope I'm never quite content with what I have. I hope I don't fall down the trap of material happiness, and yes I strongly agree the pop-cultural concept of happiness is absolutely disturbing. society is constantly telling us to be exactly like everyone else, to fit in, to emulate the famous, wealthy, smart, beautiful. after all, if you can live a life like the kardashians do, you'll be just as happy as they are. capitalism is telling us that in order to be happy we absolutely need to do better than our next man, we have to be above average. those are contradictroy. I think it's pretty telling that we have such insane amounts of both narcissists and people with self-worth issues, sometimes even both. the popular, marketable definition of happiness is utterly shizophrenic.
I always strive, I always have and I hope I'll never stop. not for a better life really, or to be a better person, but just for experience itself. maybe for novelty, too. for my passions. I feel like once I really do stop, my life as I know it will be over (in a metaphorical way ofc). I can't really imagine saying "well, good enough. I'll just relax from now on." that seems kinda defeatist to me.
I believe it's kind of telling how capitalism transformed our dreams, utopias, callings into quantifiable, reachable, material goals. have a well-playing job, a decent number of friends, two kids, visit every continent, get rid of that belly. every single step promises happiness and fulfillment, but only leads up to another staircase really. when was the last time someone, anyone, told you of a non-material dream, a transcedental one, a utopian one? I have a hard time even coming up with one to be honest. people don't want to make movies anymore, they want to sell them. they want to be directors, be admired, live that lifestyle. you know what I mean? everything we do seems like a means to an end.
back in the middle ages in Germany, one did not say "Beruf" (which means profession, job), but "Berufung" (which means a "calling" from god himself). your line of work was not just something you did to survive, or to prosper, or to help other people, but for entirely non-material reasons. I'm not trying to glamorize the middle ages here, not at all, just trying to give a historic dimension to the idea of work and fulfillment. the idea of working in order to enable one or another lifestyle is somewhat recent.