Hey guys, I’ve been thinking about something. We all want to live life on our own terms, but in today’s world, that’s much harder than it sounds.
Every day, we face challenges that make true independence difficult. And it’s not just because of governments or external circumstances.
The biggest challenge is something much closer to us: money.
For some people, money is just another problem. For others, it’s everything. Some spend their entire lives chasing it, while others spend their lives trying to survive without enough of it.
The truth is, it’s hard to have control over your life when you don’t have enough money in your hands.
When I look back at my own life, especially the days when I was struggling, I realized that money affects almost everything. It changes your relationships, your social status, your opportunities, and even the way you behave. It influences the choices you make every single day.
Many people may disagree with this, but it’s a harsh reality. People leave the comfort of their homes every morning to work because they need money. People sacrifice time with their families, their health, and sometimes even their dreams just to earn enough to keep going.
Money itself isn’t the enemy. The problem is that we’ve built a world where almost everything depends on it. We’ve become so dependent on money that imagining life without it feels impossible.
So, it’s up to you to think in the right direction and understand the importance of money.
It’s almost like we become robots whose only purpose is to earn money, while everything else in life slowly slips away.
I’ve been observing people for years, and one thing keeps standing out to me.
Everywhere I look, someone is trying to sell us the idea of self-improvement.
Wake up early.
Go for a run.
Take a cold shower.
Eat healthy. Read books.
Learn new skills.
Get a better job.
Earn more money.
Start a family.
Send your kids to school.
Then tell them to do the same.
Keep improving.
People wake up at 5 a.m., go for a run, rush to get ready for work, spend the entire day at the office, come home at 10 p.m., finish a few more tasks, and go to sleep.
This routine makes us feel productive. But is it really productivity?
Or are we simply consuming our lives without realizing it?
Sometimes I feel we’ve designed our lives to look more like self-improvement projects than actual human lives.
I honestly don’t remember the last time I had a real conversation with someone.
I don’t remember the last time I experienced genuine happiness.
One of the few moments I do remember was laughing at the funny memes people made during the student protests. That felt real. But apart from moments like that, I struggle to remember when I truly felt alive.
Today I’m 30 years old, and it feels like so many important parts of life are still missing.
Somewhere along the way, my life stopped feeling like a life and started feeling like a project that constantly needs fixing.
In many ways, I’ve been living the same life for the last twenty years. Ever since I started school, the message has always been the same: Improve yourself. Become better. Work harder. Do more. Be more.
There was never a moment where someone simply said, “Just live.”
The more I think about it, the more it feels like we’re living inside a system that never allows us to stop.
And stepping outside that system is incredibly difficult, especially if you don’t have money or a safety net.
Even today, I feel like I’m working my ass off, doing everything I’m supposed to do, yet the results don’t always come.
Meanwhile, I see other people who seem to enjoy life, spend time with their families, travel, laugh, and still make a good living.
Sometimes I wonder if I’ve spent so much time trying to improve my life that I forgot to actually live it.
Maybe I’ve turned my life into a self-improvement project instead of simply allowing it to be a human life.
Healthy reminder of life
I think I know what life actually is.
Life is about enjoying the things you do because they make you want to do even more.
It’s about waking up excited for the day — not because you have another task to finish, but because you genuinely want to experience the day ahead.
Life is talking to people. Laughing. Crying. Shouting. Feeling every emotion that makes us human.
But when every single day looks exactly the same, it starts to feel like we’re under an order to become less human and more like robots.
What’s even more ironic is that today, AI can already do many jobs faster and better than we can. But we’re not robots. We’re human beings. We have emotions. We care. We support each other. We dream. We create.
Everything you see around you was created by humans.
The phone in your hand. The aeroplane in the sky. The park near your home. Cars. Trains. Buildings. Computers. Air conditioners. Roads.
Every piece of technology and every invention started as an idea in someone’s mind.
We created these things to make life more comfortable. But somewhere along the way, the very things we created for comfort became things we spend our lives chasing. Instead of serving us, they started controlling us.
Sometimes it feels like we’re no longer working to live — we’re living to keep working.
When I look around today, I feel like something important is disappearing.
Empathy. Kindness. Real conversations. Communities. Culture. People don’t have time for each other anymore.
Everyone is busy trying to survive, trying to earn more, trying to become more. And somewhere in that race, we’re slowly forgetting what it actually means to be human.
Be Human, Not a Project
Don’t treat yourself like a project that constantly needs fixing.
You’re a human being.
Not a super athlete.
Not a super robot.
Not someone who has to read 100 books a year.
Not someone who has to win every race.
You have limits.
And that’s okay.
Life was never meant to be lived alone.
Spend time with people.
Laugh together.
Travel.
Share meals.
Fall in love.
Make memories.
Sometimes, stop listening to productivity gurus and start listening to your own heart.
Find the things that make you feel alive, not just busy.
One thing I’m constantly trying to remind myself is this:
Stop being proud of being a slave.
Working hard is good.
But wearing exhaustion like a badge of honour isn’t.
Go near the trees.
Look up at the sky.
Open your arms.
Take a deep breath.
Feel the wind.
Remind yourself that the world is much bigger than your to-do list.
Love your partner.
Be close to the people who matter.
Life isn’t just about self-love.
It’s also about giving love.
Stop worrying so much about every problem.
Most problems aren’t going anywhere overnight.
The truth is, problems are permanent.
You are not.
One day your life will end, but the world’s problems will continue.
So ask yourself this:
Are you spending your life solving problems… or forgetting to live it?
At the end of your life, no one will remember how many productivity books you finished, how many hours you worked, or how perfectly optimized your morning routine was.
They’ll remember how you made people feel.
The conversations you had.
The laughter you shared.
The love you gave.
The memories you created.
So improve yourself.
But don’t lose yourself in the process.
Be human.
Not a project.
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