I don't know what the meaning of life is, but I know I enjoy my time here much more while I'm happy.
I live my life in in such a way as to minimize sadness and maximize happiness. The most meaningful of decisions happen when these two metrics are most affected. I think that in order to maximize happiness you must maximize freedom. Can one be truly happy without being free?
I would be careful with some terms/aspects of this to push back on a purely hedonistic perspective that some might offer.
I know many married people with kids who are not “free” in absolute terms because of their commitment to their family but the family gives them more joy than anything and they wouldn’t trade it for pure, unconditional freedom.
I don't have kids but I can imagine this to be true. I've found happiness in pursuit of other meaningful responsibilities. Though to be fair, I'm free to pursue them instead of worrying about food/shelter and other personal needs, so in some senses I'm quite "free".
That’s the root of what I’ve come to as well: it’s what the person has chosen to sacrifice for or commit to.
When we are free to choose our burden or struggle we can be both free and satisfied.
When that is foisted upon us by outside powers, we are almost universally neither free nor content
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Both of you are saying great stuff ⚡⚡
The decisions of getting married and having kids are decisions that bring most people more happiness than almost any other decisions in a person's life. I highly recommend most people get married and have at least two children no matter what the financial circumstance and more if financial circumstances allow.
