Just feeling a little depressed today and thinking about the cosmic “What is my purpose in life” question, I was wondering what gets everyone out of bed in the morning. What do you live for? I’m just curious.
Like Homer, it’s the kids. Even on the crappiest of mornings (waking up at Oh-Dark-Thirty; knowing that I’m going to get my teeth kicked in at work; running on four hours of sleep), I know that everything I do is for them.
There’s no better motivator than 3.5 and 1.5 year-old boys.
What gets me out of bed: A strong urge to pee
What do I live for: A strong urge to enjoy my time here
Nothing. Routine I guess.
Same thing here. :\ Only, routine tends to make me depressed.
My alarm. Food. Thirst. Work. Boredom.
Those are the most common motivations for getting out of bed for me.
But if it helps, my motivation for carrying on is the hope that one day everything will be in place, and I can ditch the feeling that something’s missing.
My cat bites my toes.
It may seem unbelievably lame, but little moments of beauty remind me that life is worth it. A sunrise, gold autumn leaves moving in the breeze, a toddler walking unsteadily while holding his mother’s hand… as long as I can experience these things, I think I’ll stick around on this big rock of a planet.
Even when I’m shivering and waiting for the bus to get to work at 5am on a Saturday in the middle of January, I try to notice the snowflakes on my coat.
I mean, yes, I live for my goals and hopes and dreams like everyone else, but when I can’t see the big picture or the light at the end of the very long, very dark tunnel, I try to find something beautiful and enjoy it for a moment or two.
Laugh if you like, but it’s kept me going when my life was in very bad shape.
Well, literally, my alarm, my roommate, and a desire to go to class and thus not waste my tuition $$$.
More metaphorically? Every single night since I moved to Santa Fe, I’ve seen the most beautiful sunset of my life. Additionally? I put my parents through enough hell in middle and high school; they deserve at least the illusion of an emotionally-stable daughter.
My music.
The fact that I can make a living playing is the greatest motivator of them all, even though, as in all things, it can suck pretty bad at times.
Although I’m pretty sure it’d be the same if I didn’t do it for a living. The ten years I spent as an amateur/semi-pro were still defined by music. At whatever mundane crap job I had, all I thought about was playing. And women…
Guilt, reponsibility, and and an overdeveloped Protestant work ethic gets me out of bed. On the weekends, it also allows me to polish off all my obligations by noon on Saturday and take a hell of a nice nap.
What I live for are those brief, fleeting moments of perfect clarity…usually in solitude; occasionally with my SO…when everything is right with the world, nothing intrudes, and a bolt of good karma just shoots through my skull. My senses are razor-sharp, but I’m not edgy…everything is in it’s place and all is right in the universe. It’s not something you can plan; it just happens. That’s what I live for.
What gets me out of bed? To see if I am still dreaming.
What gets me up: my alarm clock, the sunshine in my window, breakfast and and the morning paper.
What I live for: life itself, and everything about it. It’s the best we’ve all got, after all. 
Or the wet sheets. When the pee turns cold, it can be downright nasty.
For me, its the smell of coffee and frying bacon… or rather, the thought of it.
Boredom, mostly. While sleeping is nice, it gets tiring after a while and it feels good to go vertical for a while.
This morning, it was the strong desire not to wet myself and/or sleep in my own excrement though. I did that last week and that was ***not ***fun.
MOOOOOO!
Personally, my dog gets me out of bed. If I don’t, she’s liable to explore all over the rug. Plus, she’s so happy when we go outside for the first time in the day. And you know what? She has good reason to be–petty existential bullshit aside, the world is fantastically beautiful place.
:smack:
s/explore/explode/
Previous to this week, the knowledge that I would miss my first class if I didn’t get my ass in gear.
Lately, the knowledge that I’m going to miss my second class if I don’t get my ass in gear.
As you might imagine, I don’t get out of bed 'til late on weekends. What can I say? There’s lots to do, but none of it’s anything for which I want to forsake a warm bed.
Many mornings it is someone calling on the telephone. Bless their hearts they assume that because it is 9:30 that I’m out of bed. Sometimes, they ask “Were you in bed?” and of course I lie to them. That’s right I lie to them! There is only one thing that is harder for me to do than get out of bed and that is to go to bed. I went to bed this morning at 4:00 and got up at 10:00. Being able to do that is one of the joys of being retired.
Joseph Campbell says that you should live life as a “joyful participation in the sorrows of life.” If you accept the fact that bad things not only happen, but that they are what makes life interesting, then you will never ask “what is the purpose of life?”
If I don’t go to work, I go to jail.