Everyone has their own opinions as to what is truly important in life. The truth is, many things are important and each holds a value that can’t be truly calculated and applied to some magical formula. Instead, we have to figure out what value we give things and how we can appreciate those things.
Relationships
Relationships are important, there’s not a doubt about that. Whether it’s relationships with your family members or your best friends or even your romantic endeavors, they’re some of the most valuable things you can ever form.
They allow you to love one another and laugh, they make you feel even when you don’t think it’s possible to feel any more.
While they’re amazing things, relationships can go sideways. Friends can leave and suddenly you feel alone. Family can fight and at times they give up on you due to lifestyle choices. Romantic endeavors can fall apart just as quickly as you find them, so the truth is that while relationships hold a very important place in life, I wouldn’t say they are the most important thing.
Health
Your health is supposed to be a focal point. Keep it in mind, always be conscious of whether or not you’re making healthy decisions.
If we have bad health, we end up putting ourselves at risk. From diseases such as cancer to mental disorders that could end up putting is in jeopardy. Having good physical and mental health should definitely take priority over many things in life.
Love
Love is a thing of beauty. It exists everywhere and in many forms. From the love of your parents and friends to the love of your children and fur-babies, you’re surrounded by it even when you can’t see it. Love is definitely an important part of life, something that makes life worth living and occasionally makes things worth risking.
When you think of love, you see romances and weddings. You think of all of those love songs on the radio and they make you feel like love is the one thing worth everything. While I agree, it’s very important and worth treasuring, there are times when love can hurt and sometimes you think it leaves you.
Purpose
Purpose in life gives many people meaning. While that purpose may seem small to an outsider, it can be one of the most fundamentally important things to living a happy life. Having a purpose can motivate us on many levels and improve our quality of life.
While a person’s purpose can change over the course of time, the need for a purpose is always there. It pushes us to do our best and succeed at many things in our life. From high school, where we strive to get grades to allow us to excel in life to college where we look for who we will be to our jobs and families. We always have a purpose and have a sense of need.
Without a purpose, we are more vulnerable to many things that take away from our quality of life such as depression and anxiety. No purpose often affects our mental health in a negative way.
Money
If you look around you, you’ll find dollar signs everywhere. Money is a measurement. It measures success, comfort, status, and many other things. The truth is, money is a necessity. While many will tell you that money is only a necessity and shouldn’t matter, for many people that simply isn’t the case.
Money should never be the first priority, but should be a priority. Not only is it necessary due to the way our society operates, it can be necessary for our health and well-being. Yes, it is needed for food and water, as well as hospital trips and bills but there’s a stronger need still. When it comes to some people, it’s a matter of worry. Without having a safety net made of money hidden away in the bank, they’ll stress and worry, pushing aside everything else that should matter. Unable to focus on the health or relationships with the idea that their saving account isn’t enough to cover necessities should a tragedy happen.
Education
Education is viewed differently by everyone. Yes, schooling is important. That isn’t an opinion but fact. Without an education, many things become nearly impossible. You learn the basics, like math and science, but you also learn how to forge relationships and develop cognitive skills. You’ll find situations that teach you about empathy and help you learn your own values.
That being said, education isn’t only found within school systems but all around the world. You can learn new things everyday and continuously expanding your education can only broaden your horizons and allow you to add to your quality of life.
Whether you go on to college or not, isn’t the only way to grow and add to your life but simply a path that you need to decide is or isn’t the right one for you.
Time
Time is precious. That’s what many people say and what you’ll often hear throughout life. It’s hard to argue that, actually, it’s impossible. Our time is best spent in ways that make us happy. Being able to take advantage of the time that we have is what makes it truly valuable.
So the question remains, what is the most important thing in life?
Relationships, health, love, purpose, money, education and time all have their merits. Many of them intertwining and overlapping so that you can’t really have one without the other. It’s been my observation that all of these things that hold so much value have one thing in common, one thing that they add value too. You. You need to have a relationship with yourself and love yourself before anything. See to your own health and strive for your own purpose in life. You’ll learn things that only can apply to your life and be able to truly value your time with those around you and those you live. But without you, there isn’t really a life to be had, is there?
