Top 12 Things That Make Life Worth Living

[Dr Frankenollie]

What are your favourite things in life? What makes life worth living for you? They can be people, food, objects, films, books, music...anything.

Here's my list:

1. Family.
2. Doctor Who.
3. Chocolate.
4. Animation...in all its forms. Svankmajer's stop-motion, Monty Python, Aardman, and obviously Disney.
5. Batman (which entails all the films, graphic novels, comics and animated series).
6. Reading George Orwell's 1984.
7. Simon & Garfunkel.
8. Coen Brothers' Movies. 'specially Fargo.
9. Porn.
10. Alfred Hitchcock.
11. Italian food.
12. George Carlin's stand-up comedy routines.

And to end on a sour note, here's my 12 least favourite things in life:

1. The normal human being.
2. Periods of self-loathing.
3. Boredom.
4. Homophobes/sexists/racists.
5. Ignorant religious people.
6. Small children throwing tantrums. Sometimes I just want to kick them.
7. People who smugly say "Evolution's only a theory."
8. Michael McIntyre.
9. Diarrhea.
10. People who enjoy reality TV, and not in the way people enjoy Ed Wood movies.
11. Johnny Depp playing Captain Jack Sparrow. For me, it's more annoying than Jar Jar Binks.
12. Being with a lot of people, clustered in a small, confined space.

[Sotiris]

9. Porn.

Porn gets into the list but not sex?

1. The normal human being.

What does that even mean? Do you like psychopaths?

5. Ignorant religious people.

7. People who smugly say "Evolution's only a theory."

That's the same thing!

[Avaitor]

1- Ted Mosby
2- Marshall Eriksen
3- Lily Aldrin
4- Barney Stinson
5- Robin Scherbatsky
6- "Let's Go to the Mall"
7- "Sandcastles in the Sand"
8- "Two Beavers Are Better Than One"
9- The Bro Code
10- Slap bets
11- Girl fights
12- How I Met Your Mother in general

[Flanger-Hanger]

12. New Rules
11. Waffles (pancakes just wish they were like this)
10. Friends and family (I suppose they should be on the list, what with my existance and all being the result of the latter)
9. Internet (in all it's shame and glory)
8. Art (whatever it may be lazily defined as)
7. Summer (better than that Winter crap)
6. Halloween
5. Money (it helps me get other stuff on the list)
4. Disney (the good stuff)
3. Muffins (God love 'em)
2. Sex
1. Ultimatedisney.com

[Goliath]

Women.

Beer.

Bob Dylan.

9. Porn.

Aaaawwww, my little boy is growing up!

[Disney's Divinity]

Family is the number one thing that makes life not worth living. A day with your family will make you want to kill yourself and take everyone else with you. (I assume this is most people’s experience?)

1. Love (includes men and sex) - as cliché as that is.
2. The Little Mermaid
3. Alan Menken soundtracks, followed by other musicals
4. Animals ~ Cats, dogs, it doesn’t really matter.
5. Music (Pop divas, preferably)
6. Entertainment (TV shows/films/books)
7. Learning/reading
8. Money (sad, but yes--money = good life)
9. Drawing/animation
10. Fudge Royale and bon-bons

Hard to be specific.

[Flanger-Hanger]

Family is the number one thing that makes life not worth living. A day with your family will make you want to kill yourself and take everyone else with you. (I assume this is most people’s experience?)

Living with family can be a pain, but I would assume most have at least one or two relatives they like.

[Elladorine]

9. Porn.

Porn gets into the list but not sex?

Er . . . that requires a partner?

[Disney's Divinity]

Living with family can be a pain, but I would assume most have at least one or two relatives they like.

You enjoy going to family reunions to meet people you don’t care about and have them passive aggressively ask questions about your life?

But, joking aside, you're right that there’s usually one or two good relatives. In my case, they’re dead.

[Flanger-Hanger]

You enjoy going to family reunions to meet people you don’t care about and have them passive aggressively ask questions about your life?

Reunions don't happen all that often with my family (at least not really big ones), so no I don't mind too much (but the general questioning makes me want to just send out a press release at times). Meeting realtives is usually done on a smaller-family-to-family basis outside of the obvious Christmas.

But, joking aside, you're right that there’s usually one or two good relatives. In my case, they’re dead.

I'm sorry to hear that, I didn't mean to offend.

[Disney's Divinity]

I'm sorry to hear that, I didn't mean to offend.

Oh, no, I'm not offended. I was just giving into dark humor with the hating-family bits.

[pap64]

Now this is a topic that is BEGGING for a drama bomb to go off...



All joking aside, here is my top 12 in no particular order whatsoever...

1. Family

As it has been established before, family CAN be a pain in the ass. But in my case, family has made some of the best and happiest moments ever. I swear, every time I remember a big holiday gathering or a big event, I start to get teary eyed because many of those members have either disconnected themselves from the family or have died. It's something that will REALLY hit you as you grow older. I mean, I've known of people who flat out hated their parents, but mourn them deeply when they pass on. Just recently, my dad had a heart attack and I thought that it was going to be it. But luckily he was placed in good hands and thus survived. I promised myself to spend more time with my family since you never know if any second now they will pass on.

Much like everything else in life, there are good and bad times. I was lucky enough that I had more good than bad, but even the bad times have served as learning experiences that I will carry with me forever.

2. Friends

Much like family, there are good and bad moments with friends, but I just can't imagine my life without friends. Yes, I am more of a balanced socialite as I love my alone time deeply, but I have met some of the most incredible friends in my life. Ironically, I used to be anti-social in my early teenage years, but the death of a classmate made me realize that sometimes people DO care about each other, and that life is worth living if you open yourself up to deaths. Since then, I have appreciated friendship as being integral in my growth as a human being. Of course I have experienced hardships with friends and many of them betrayed me and broke my heart, but at the end of the day, some friends have taught me that just because one "friend" broke your heart it doesn't mean that no one cares. I love my friends, period.

3. Faith

For those unaware, I am a "Christian" (I use that term loosely for personal reasons) and believe in God and Jesus Christ. I believe that faith is more than integral for living life because, simply put, there are many things in life we can't understand or make sense of. Of course this will vary from person to person, and I think the greatest mistake humanity has ever done was FORCING those beliefs onto others. I believe that life can be so vast that it will change from person to person. So for me, my faith is integral in making my life worth living.

4. Nature and human creations

We are lucky to have been born in such a wonderful planet. There are indeed many places on Earth that are beautiful. That's why I love to travel so much. I am also including man made creations such as cities, buildings and such because even though at times natural creations are destroyed in favor of man made creations, they ALL contribute to how we live, how we think and how we act towards others. Speaking of traveling...

5. The discovery of new things

I am a very curious person by nature. I just LOVE to learn about new things, new places, new stories, new people and many other things. Life is something that is filled with discovery. The pursuit of them can make life worth living since it makes it something exciting. I decided to be more open minded to new things that they prevent life from becoming stale. I was living in a rut for a year one time, and I hated the monotony of the old, and wished every day for new things to come in. It can be intimidating, yes, but again, we need it if we want life to be worth living.

6. The arts

I was thinking of placing music, books and film as their own categories, but I decided to place them under "The arts" because to me it represents how ingenious the human mind can be when expressing abstract thought. I love how someone can create a whole universe and present it through word and the visual medium. I seriously cannot live without movies, music and stories. Of course there is a lot of bad, mainstream "art" out there, but it just makes me appreciate the good ones much better and I place focus on them more than the bad art.

7. Love

I am talking about the universal decision, not the kind between a man and a woman or even the physical manifestation. Two years ago I attended a seminal about love, and the speaker said that often we confuse love for a feeling since feelings are fleeting and never stick around for long. He said that love is a decision first and foremost, it is that you care for someone so deeply you will do anything to make them happy, and they return the favor. I have to agree with his sentiment as people can do crazy things in the name of love. Plus like I stated, it is universal. Society focuses on love being just between a man and a woman that they forget that can it can be love towards life, family, friends, faith and anything that inspires us really. Once again, it can bring with itself a lot of hardships. But for me I just can't imagine living life without me loving someone.

8. Food

I LITERALLY can't live without food . But all joking aside, I love food, especially all the work it goes into making any kind of dish.

9. Cats (or animals in general)

I love animals, especially cats and dogs. I know for many they mean an additional chore in their daily lives, but for me I just love their company too much.

10. My thoughts

I am always in a thoughtful state. I don't know why, but I just love to think and imagine things. Is that a weird thing? I don't know, but I just can't imagine me going through life without me thinking about everything.

11. Sugar

I love my sweet stuff

12. The Internet

Let's face it, at this point NONE of us could live without the internet . I am half joking of course since I rather be doing something productive, but I also love my internet time.

I'll be posting my negative stuff later, in the meantime, no drama bombs!

[Flanger-Hanger]

I think there should be a seperate thread for the opposit 12 list. At least then if it bombs this will still be saved.

[Lazario]

12 Things That Make Life Worth Living:
1. Laughter
2. Fair, Intelligent Judgment
3. Friends
4. Sexuality
5. Food
6. Nature
7. Art and Entertainment
8. Dancing
9. Relaxation
10. Creativity
11. Doubt
12. Sleep


12 Things That Make Life Worth Giving Up:
1. Pain and Physical Discomfort
2. Selfishness
3. Intense Confusion / Fear
4. Societies
5. Religion
6. Class Systems
7. Bigotry
8. Conformity
9. Puritanism
10. War
11. Weakness / Deterioration of Health
12. Boredom

[ajmrowland]

5. Batman (which entails all the films, graphic novels, comics and animated series).

not the extremely fun video games?

1. The normal human being.

If humans are normally ignorant, smug, religious, and childish, I think this one is better spoken for in the latter points. And I might actually agree, but I want to fit in and have fun and that usually involves people I dont wanna murder.

[PixarFan2006]

1.Family/Friends- This HAS to be at number one. Without family, we probably are nothing (I know some might disagree though). Our family is what gets us through our rough times. The same holds true for friends.

2.Animals (Dogs Cats, etc)- What is it about animals that make most people happy? Is it their overall cuteness? (took me a while to type that) is it that they treat us better than most humans?

3.Movies/Music - Where would we be without the two of the major forms of Entertainment? Music is relaxing to listen to when you're down (or just whenever you feel like it) and has many varieties of genres to choose from, (as does movies). Both medias have also inspired many people over the years and changed the way we live.

4.Laughter-I do not think I would last long if I did not have something to laugh about. Simple as that.

5.Books-Once in a while, I just need a book to read to keep my mind at ease. Without them, I do not know where we would've been or how we would've gotten so many great ideas.

6.Animation-Just think about imaginative and creative it has been over the years (Chuck Jones as an example).

7.Food. I know it's already be mentioned but we all need food to live. If had to pick, My personal favorites would probably be pizza and chicken.

8.Video Games-I always need to play video games to take some steam off. My favorite company is Nintendo by far. Favorite game? Cannot decide.

9.The Internet - There us just so much the Internet has to offer us (whether it be good or bad). It has also changed our lives this past decade (social sites such as Facebook, which I DON'T use, streaming videos online, etc).

10.Seasons-Without changes in the seasons, I think I would go insane. Winter is probably my number one favorite season. I just love the beauty of snow, looking out at it on a cold day. Autumn is also pleasant when the leaves change to orange and yellow. I don't think I like summer right now since it's getting hot and humid

11.Pixar Films - Almost every one of these films are gold (Sans the Cars films). They have great animation and great storytelling. I know some of them are overrated (Finding Nemo especially) and people get tired of hearing their praises, but I still enjoy them. I think my favorites are the Toy Story films followed by the Incredibles.

12.Broadway Plays- I always look forward to seeing a touring performance of a hit play at our local theater (Since we will probably NEVER be able get to go to New York).


Top 5 Reasons NOT to live

1.Gossips/Religious People- People who's job is to make other people's lives a living hell.
2.War - As long as people disagree or as long as there's religion, there will be war. 'Nuff said.
3.Identity Theft - Ruining many people's lives. Not sure if this is still a major problem but I added it just to be sure.
4.Racists
5.Severe Weather - Mainly tornadoes and hurricanes which claim lives and destroy many homes.

[Dr Frankenollie]

9. Porn.

Porn gets into the list but not sex?

I'm too young.

1. The normal human being.

What does that even mean? Do you like psychopaths?

Human beings are generally selfish, easily led, vain, boring, ignorant and loathsome people. I've never met a psychopath, so I can't comment on whether I prefer them.

However, the normal human being isn't really the number one on my negative list; it's loneliness. Loneliness is a painful disease that medicine can't cure. As said in Into the Wild, '...happiness is only real when shared.' I prefer being alone frequently, but being unable to share enjoyment or happiness with others, being unable to confide in someone, being unable to talk to someone else...it's horrible.

My second list is rather tongue-in-cheek; my real one would probably be more like Lazario's.

[pap64]

It's fascinating that a lot of people are putting religion as one of the things that make life worth giving up for, not because of my faith but because I am fascinated by this.

The way I see it, religion and faith are two different things. Faith is the belief that there is something grand and with deeper meaning in life. To me, religion RESTRICTS faith and tries to mold it into an uniformed mentality, which is something I hate. Like I said, I am technically a "Christian" that believes in God and Jesus, but I don't like religion, I don't like going to church and I don't like the Bible as being the "ALL MIGHTY RULE BOOK".

Like I said earlier, I believe in love as being a powerful decision, and the sad thing is that many religions restrict how far we are willing to love our fellow human beings, no matter how different they may be. I just don't want to be put in the same category as the religious nutcases because I decided to followed a faith that makes sense to me and just me.

Since we are on the subject, here are my things that make life worth giving up:

1. Politics

Growing up in a politically charged country, I've always hated politics and politicians. I get that for a society to run we need some sort of order and leaders. That I don't mind. What I hate the uniformed mentality that we must under one symbol and belief, and that anyone that defies it should be hated. Wars start like that, and do social discomfort. Even talk AGAINST politics can turned into yet another political debacle.

2. Bigotry/Elitism

I put the two of them in the same category because they are technically the same thing. As passionate as I am about my faith, my hobbies and such, I never felt above or below anyone because of them, so I don't get WHY people feel the need to establish themselves as superior beings based on simple things like the computer company of preference as such. I get that certain brands, ideas, people and such can inspire such confidence that when we follow them we feel like we are growing too. But this whole "MY COMPANY IS BETTER THAN YOU THEREFORE YOU ARE INFERIOR" mentality is annoying.

3. Hypocrisy

Unfortunately, this is something that I think is buried deep within our human nature: to speak of something and then do another. I get that sometimes we get so full of ourselves that we can't deliver on our promises. As long as people acknowledge it, I am fine. It's when people OVERLY talk about others about things they are guilty of themselves that annoy me.

4. Religious nutcases

I already established this, but here it is again. I hate, hate, HATE these people with a passion, because often they speak the loudest AND they claim to speak for ALL OF US that follow a faith. This is because then we are judged based on the actions of a few who claim to speak on God's behalf but are really meeting the quota for a personal agenda, which is often filled with bigotry and hatred. After all, we are warned that there would be PLENTY of false prophets that claim to be all about love but are really greedy.

[Dr Frankenollie]

The way I see it, religion and faith are two different things. Faith is the belief that there is something grand and with deeper meaning in life. To me, religion RESTRICTS faith and tries to mold it into an uniformed mentality, which is something I hate. Like I said, I am technically a "Christian" that believes in God and Jesus, but I don't like religion, I don't like going to church and I don't like the Bible as being the "ALL MIGHTY RULE BOOK".

I realise that faith can be something to live for and adds hope to people's lives, yet...I dislike it nearly as much as religion. Without turning this into a religious debate, I think faith can be very dangerous, driving people to do very bad things.

Anyway...I've realised that classical music and nature should also be on my list. Stupid forgetful Frankenollie.

[pap64]

The way I see it, religion and faith are two different things. Faith is the belief that there is something grand and with deeper meaning in life. To me, religion RESTRICTS faith and tries to mold it into an uniformed mentality, which is something I hate. Like I said, I am technically a "Christian" that believes in God and Jesus, but I don't like religion, I don't like going to church and I don't like the Bible as being the "ALL MIGHTY RULE BOOK".

I realise that faith can be something to live for and adds hope to people's lives, yet...I dislike it nearly as much as religion. Without turning this into a religious debate, I think faith can be very dangerous, driving people to do very bad things.

Agreed on that. But again, it depends on the person what the specific faith tells that person.

It's like anything else in life, really. People have done atrocious things in the name of love, and that is considering to be a really great and powerful thing. In the name of pride people have committed crimes. I could go on. The idea is that often these things are shaped by individuals rather than the whole concept, so the concept shouldn't be judged based on the actions on a few, because at the end of the day, it tends to be human nature that drives us to do many things.