Recently, I realized that I have unexpectedly found balance in my lifestyle. I now split my time between two activities. Let’s discuss how to balance our contradictory desires.
How to solve conflicting desires inside us
Sometimes, we want to satisfy our complex desires. Although aiming for one goal provides temporary excitement, it doesn’t fulfill us from the heart.
One example is a conflict between contributing worldwide and supporting people closest to us. Aiming to build a global business requires sacrificing local contributions, while focusing on helping the nearby weak people prevents us from establishing a large-scale work.
Although some might manage to combine both in a single activity, I realized it was difficult, especially for those with conflicting strong desires, like empathic and logical people. Doing business is different from donation, and focusing on the broader world hinders a local perspective. Trying to do both at once only led me to confusion.
In other words, I wanted to do something globally and locally. However, I didn’t know how to satisfy both. I could not even tell whether the problem was with my inside or outside—my mindset or lifestyle.
That is why we want to solve those conflicting desires.
Unexpectedly, I recently realized that my current lifestyle satisfied that desire: super long-term investment with super local helping. Today, I will introduce that style. This idea could help you satisfy your contradictory desires.
Considering multiple conflicting desires
My idea is to associate opposing desires with opposite activities. That satisfies our conflicting desires. In other words, don’t try to be overly creative by forcing everything into a single activity.
There are multiple conflicting stances, as follows:
- Contributing worldwide vs. locally
- Running a business (serving socially stronger people) vs. donation (helping socially weaker people)
- Engaging in active work (doing things actively) vs. receiving passive income (waiting quietly)
- Long-term benefit vs. short-term profit
- Helping those with the opposite personality (extroverts) vs. those with the same nature (empathic and logical people)
- Specializing in a familiar field vs. engaging in unfamiliar industries
We can enjoy both but are not satisfied with just one side. That troubles us.
Achieving all desires with two activities
Consider realizing them all through two distinct activities.
In my case, two entirely different activities satisfied those wants. They are as follows:
- Super long-term investment: It allowed me to see things globally and historically. It is to support socially stronger people who run businesses or manage assets. It provides passive income, so I have to wait in the long term.
- Super local helping: I help my parents and brother, who are the people closest to me. It is a charitable activity, so I don’t take a salary even if I work at my brother’s pastry shop. It is an active work that requires my physical strength. I aim for short-term contribution without overthinking the meaning. I actively learn about unfamiliar skills.
Although those two activities of mine are not perfectly opposite yet, I realized that they fulfilled my desires in a balanced way.
In other words, we need at least two opposing activities. The more separate they are, the more satisfied we can be.
That reveals what is unnecessary. In my case, I can be creative in the super long-term investment, which means I don’t need to be so logical when helping my brother. Even without improvements at his shop, I realized I could satisfy my creative desires. That relaxed me.
Balancing them enables us to enjoy life at any time. When becoming tired on one side, we can switch. Since both are opposite, we can rest one side while contributing with the other. That creates balanced satisfaction.
Conclusion
That can be an approach to satisfying our complex desires.
My idea is that associating opposing desires with opposite activities satisfies our conflicting desires.
In other words, don’t try to be overly creative by forcing everything into a single activity.
This idea could help you satisfy your contradictory desires.
Thank you for reading this article. I hope to see you in the next one.
