Why We’re ‘Wired’ To Waste Our Time

We’re all busy nowadays. Maybe with our goals. Maybe just to cope with daily challenges. We have our reasons. We’re working things out. Learning on the go. But in one way or another, everything we do seeks to fulfill a natural human drive.

Have you ever asked yourself what was the difference between an animal and a human being? Without the delusional sense of superiority, obviously.

What makes us different from animals?

It’s clear that we share similar motives. Reproduction, status, food, shelter, etc. But fundamentally, what makes us different?

Animals live and experience life without a choice. They fulfill their different drives, and that’s it. They’re born with a certain ‘program’, and their existence is spent fulfilling this program.

A dog can never behave like a duck. A dog doesn’t have the choice to be something else than a dog.

What about us, human beings?

We can behave like animals. And unfortunately, most of the time, we do. But the good news is that — we can behave differently too. We have the choice. But do we use this choice to its maximum capacity?

If you look at our main concerns today, they revolve around making more money, finding someone to fall in love with, experiencing what the senses have to offer, looking good in front of others, and so on.

Just like animals, most of us spend our entire lives trying to fulfill these different drives we inherited from our biology. Those drives that are only working to ensure ‘survival’.

Somehow, it’s easier to just fall back, , to live on repeat, to just keep doing what we’ve been doing for eons. It feels most comfortable. Secure. Familiar.

We use our choice to select the same things, over and over again.

Now of course, without food or a good night of sleep with a roof over my head — I wouldn’t be able to think clearly and write this for you. This is an irrefutable fact; our body and mind have needs that we need to take care of.

But why do we make these basic needs more than they are? Why have those needs turned into ‘fantasies’? Is it due to our habits — what we’ve accepted as being the ultimate way of living?

Why have we become so overly concerned with fulfilling these different needs? How have we come to spend entire lives pursuing status, possessions, people?

If we’re so sure about our lifestyle, why do we keep seeking answers? Maybe it comes from the undeniable sense of discomfort we continuously experience. The one that screams throughout our whole being, coming from our very depths.

After we’ve experienced everything the world had to offer. After we bought a bigger home, ate the most exquisite foods, had the best relationships, looked so cool in front of others. And so on.

What’s next?

Thankfully, some of us have a purpose that is aligned with making the world a better place, assisting those in need, saving endangered life forms, taking better care of our home — the Earth, and so on.

But even then, what’s next?

Because remember, we still have the choice. What lies beyond the choice of survival and contribution?

A choice. The choice to have a choice. The choice to question whatever we believe may be the reason we’re here.

We’re given these magnificent tools that are the body and the mind. We’re drivers of those tools. And they only serve as ‘vessels’ to experience life in its most intricate details.

While most of us spend our time entranced by our tools, instead of using them for their rightful purpose — eventually, there comes a time when all these little games we play become tedious, boring, absurd.

This is the time when we realize that we have the choice, that we always did. And now, we’re ready to grow. To truly learn.

Each experience becomes an opportunity for growth. Others reflect different aspects of ourselves, and once we remove all that is not ‘us’ out of our system — we’re surprised by how full and beautiful life actually is.

Ultimately, the most important lessons we all have to learn is how truly linked to each other we all are, then love becomes natural — not forced. Compassion arises, and without a book or by trying to conform to some ideals — we become superior human beings, again, not in the cocky sense of the word, but actual, evolved human beings.

Not being ‘slaves’ to our instincts, reactions and unconscious processes. We own our power, the power to choose. We learn to live with choice. And this choice is who we are. Some call it awareness, others free will, the term doesn’t matter — only the experiencing does.