sids blog

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about what actually matters. I think the two pillars of a meaningful life are meaningful work and meaningful relationships. And whatever is meaningful for you doesn’t have to make sense to anybody else. It’s your life, it’s your time. You should be in control of it.

You don’t want to squander life pleasing other people, even your parents and friends. One day your time will run its course, and you will be facing death. At that point, you don’t want to regret your life choices. You don’t want to look back and wonder what alternate life could have been.

Luckily, I have found meaningful work, yet I am still struggling with meaningful relationships. Knowing the impermanence of things, it’s hard to commit to people, yet you want long-term relationships. Because true returns in life come from compound interest—whether it’s work, investments, or relationships.

I think if we sort these two things, everything else doesn’t really matter. Living life true to yourself, doing something meaningful, and being surrounded by people you love and care about is a recipe for a meaningful life.

I strongly believe the relationships you attract in your life are a reflection of you and your core values. If you are not aware of your core values, or worse, you don’t have any values, you will happen to be friends with the same kind of people. Such relationships will lack trust, empathy, and true understanding.

Another factor is, if you are a dishonest person, your relationships’ foundation will be dishonesty, which will damage trust. Everything in those relationships will be based on a lie, and because you are a dishonest person, you will always look at other people with suspicion—because a dishonest person who breaks rules can’t imagine others not doing it.

Maybe my past relationships didn’t work because my core values were flawed. Or worse I didn’t have any core values. 

Living true to yourself is knowing what your core values are and staying loyal to them.