Boxes in Life

There are many boxes in life.
Naturally we think some are more important than others.
Particularly one.
Because we see almost everywhere on tv, in the papers, amongst our peers.
Everyday the message is drummed in us that this is the right thing to do, this is the right thing to do, this is the right thing to do... we must do this, only normal people do this...
They might as well make us recite this everyday instead of the pledge.

We think that once this particular box is filled, it will be the answer to our problems.
We think even that once this box is filled, it will kickstart our lives.
Life will suddenly become brighter, we will have a lot of energy, and all the other boxes that were empty will miraculously fill themselves.
Well that happens on Ch8 dramas but not in real life.

Filling the box. At most it will mask the problems that run deeper.
Other boxes remain unfilled. That is the actual cause of restlessness and unhappiness.
For the pursuit of one box, we ignore even more the others. Such that sometimes, we are becoming hollower as a person, losing that bit of a spark/sei we may once have had when we were not so crazy over that one box.

Sure, one day we will really think about filling the box.
But obsessing and calculating over it isn't really going to help anything at all.
This box is one of those irritating things that opens and presents a chance at the strangest times.
You can try to engineer opportunities, yes, but often at the expense of the other boxes.
So what is the winning solution?
Take a step back, and pay some attention to the other boxes in our lives.
They have been unnurtured and ignored in recent years.
In fact, create new boxes, new areas of interest in life.
Don't limit yourself because life is a lot richer than that.
Meantime, just keep an eye on that box. But don't put yourself in the situation where that one box is the first thing you think about when you wake up, the only thing you think about during the day, and the last thing you think about as you try to make yourself sleep at night. That is existence at its most pathetic.

The loneliest person is not the one who spends Christmas eves in his room alone surfing the internet.
The loneliest person is the one who has filled his one box, is out in Orchard Rd celebrating (or trying to celebrate, being a non-Christian) Christmas with his significant other and still feels lonely.

If it is inherent in your nature to feel lonely you will always feel lonely, even though right now you think certain things might solve your problems of loneliness.
The solution may lie more in learning how to be comfortable with yourself first.
We actually have to work for our own happiness, and not let a box make or break us.