Annotations
sisyphus doesn’t find meaning in reaching the summit—he finds it in the act of pushing the boulder. his happiness isn’t in escaping the climb but rather, embracing it, despite the inevitable struggle that comes with work of any kind.
in either/or, kierkegaard explores the difference between the aesthetic life and the ethical life, a dichotomy that feels remarkably relevant in today’s world of curated social media feeds and performative success.
the ethical life that values the small, the quiet, the mundane- this requires introspection. it asks you to stop chasing what you’re told to desire and forces you to ask yourself… what do i actually need to feel whole?
these moments are not distractions from life, but rather, a defining reality of what it means to have everything. and yet, in our culture of overconsumption and overachievement, people have lost sight of the small joys that encompass the human experience.
simone de beauvoir, in the ethics of ambiguity, argues that meaning isn’t something we stumble upon—it’s something we actively create.
a little life, in all its simplicity, doesn’t seek validation from the outside. instead, it crafts its own meaning in the quiet, deliberate acts of everyday living—making breakfast, tending a garden, sharing a book with a friend.
and what i’ve found is that when you’re living authentically, aligned with what you truly want, even life’s difficulties feel lighter—manageable, even purposeful—because they’re part of something that feels real and true to you.
fulfillment isn’t found in how much we accomplish or accumulate—it’s in the quiet, deliberate choice to live authentically. a life rooted in meaning, no matter how small or unseen.