Survival and fun

[Aleksander Krstic]

Lately I've been having this idea that all we need to ever accomplish in our lives is to survive and have fun.

I must warn you in advance I will not read really long and/or extremely critising posts. This could also be a very long post, but I decided to shorten it.

So anyways I believe this in the terms of the following examples:
I'll post one example for survival and one for fun.

So about survival: aren't we doing everything-having jobs, bussinesses, debate about economy to survive?

An example of fun would be what I also wrote in my twitter page, so I'll quote myself : "No experience is worth it if there are no positive emotions present."

Feel free to correct me.

[Remiel]

Hmmmm what about pain? Stepping through the pain is sometimes necessary for greater growth. But avoiding that pain could lead to disasterous consequences, couldn't it?

Lets take a toothache for example. If you get a mild toothache when you bite on something hard (or soft) you can avoid the pain of going to the dentist because, well, it is painful (just recently had this happen to me). Or an be perceived as painful. I could avoid going to the dentist to get my cavity removed but in doing so cause myself greater pain later.

If someone close to me died it is painful for me to deal with the emotions and memories that accompany that death. But if I don't do it, how can I find closure? Won't it continue to eat away at me?

If I'm bitter towards someone, aren't I the only one who's truely poisoning myself? If I can't address the bitterness and move beyond it, how can I find the freedom to have fun?

And lastly, but not leastly... Exercise! Exercise is painful, doubly so if you haven't done any for months / years. The first few weeks are incredibly painful. And not to mention the whole act of working out is designed to push you to your breaking point and then one or two steps further. It gets to be fun once you are used to it (comfort zone really) but until then it is dang difficult.

[Remiel]

Another thing, I could survive off of working at McDonalds, and have fun by investing all my free time into video games (I did that during college, work and video games). It was definitely fun. Yet now video games don't have the same appeal to me that they once did.

What changed? I did. Why did I change? After five years of college doing the video games, anime, work and school I arrived at the month before graduation. In a flash of insight I realized I could see the end of this path. For the rest of my life I would be trapped by "fun". Unable to accomplish the goals I wanted to. Unable to see the sights, hear the sounds or do the things I wanted to. I would be forever chained to "fun".

Why was I chained to "fun"? Because I had to have it now. I could not wait, it had to be instant gratification. Something I could just turn on or off. Not something that I had to dedicate time to. A good example would be creating a Video Game Development studio or even just creating video games. Or figuring out how to earn more money so I could afford a boat.

If you think of it in terms of Be-Do-Have. Who I was (Be) limited what I could Have. But because I was chained to my fun I couldn't Do anything I couldn't change that Be which in turn continued to limit my Have.

So I started a long journey down a path that I could not envision. Now my concept of fun has grown so large that I have a myriad of things that I can enjoy above and beyond video games, manga, and anime.

[Aleksander Krstic]

@Remiel: I tend to disagree. This wish of having fun now drives me onward, as ridiculous as that may sound.

[Lauxa]

I agree.

Having fun can be a lot of work though.

[Remiel]

Originally Posted by Aleksander Krstic

@Remiel: I tend to disagree. This wish of having fun now drives me onward, as ridiculous as that may sound.

Really? that is pretty cool. I do understand that we are all wired differently so it doesn't surprise me.


One thing that I've come to notice though is that I seek something higher. Something beyond just the here and now. In a way I'm seeking an eternal fun. Comparing myself from before college to now I have to say that I'm definitely alot more future driven. It's a combination of Fun now AND fun later.

[Eric Roosevelt]

You're probably going to die eventually, so if survival is your ultimate goal then you may well have the odds stacked against you. I hope you're having fun though.

[ChaosKiwi]

What about replication?

Though I guess that fits into both the survival and fun categories