Fulfillment can be described as satisfaction derived from one’s own self doing or actions, meaning that an individual completes something or successfully finishes a task that makes said individual feel better about themselves as a whole. Fulfillment has become a sought after feeling that humans strive for in their day to day lives but rarely obtain, this is due to the fact that fulfillment is one of the many primal human feelings only truly obtainable in a natural setting.
These specific human feelings are inherently hard to detect in life now due to modern distractions and comforts, meaning humans need to return to nature to scratch that itch. Living off the grid and returning to agrarianism is a growing concept in the country where people move away from people and cities and into forests and other rural places to escape the concrete jungles and stressors of today, a major reason for these people switching their lifestyles is the itch of primal feelings and how the human soul desires them.
The feeling highlighted today is fulfillment. Individuals who have returned to nature have an increased sense of fulfillment due to the fact that they are living like humans had for millions of years, off the land, self sustainably, providing for the ones they love and care for.
Individuals living off the grid obtain fulfillment through tasks we have grown apart from in life today such as cultivating crops for personal benefit. Around fifteen thousand years ago the first humans decided to settle down from their nomadic lifestyles and begin farming, through this they developed and changed the ways crops looked, making them even better for human consumption. Today, only 1.3% of Americans identify themselves as farmers, even so, most of those farmers sell of their wares to massive corporations, meaning humans have run away from the personal farming lifestyle that provided them with fulfillment in the past. Humans who have returned to these growing crops for their own consumptions lifestyles have reported increases in energy, mind clarity, and overall health due to the lack of chemicals in the food and overall increase in the sense of fulfillment thus decreasing stressors. Many other dying elements of human life that are only feasible in nature also increase fulfillment drastically such as providing shelter, hunting, trapping, and building.
Now, as a college student, seeking fulfillment may seem an improbable task after reading all the ways people seek fulfillment above, you would be right for thinking that, seeking that sense of fulfillment would be impossible with an absence of nature, but there are other avenues a college student could go. Personally, I have created a list for the semester, on this list I have every assignment, club meeting, test, and quiz with the date and time I need to complete them. Though I cannot itch my primal sense of fulfillment, I can reach a sense of modern-day fulfillment by checking a task off my list, making me feel accomplished and satisfied after successfully completing a task, just in a different way.
Another way college student can seek fulfillment is through a reward system, when a student completes a task they can reward themselves with something they desire such as ice-cream from the creamery or watching a video online, this sense of completing something to obtain something can increase a student drive to complete the initial task raising their sense of fulfillment once they finish a plethora of tasks.
As a whole, college students cannot reach the sense of primal fulfillment all human minds yearn for due to the absence of nature around them, but they can reach a sense of modern day fulfillment through the completion of tasks. All in all, fulfillment is a important feeling that can increase a persons mood drastically.
This is a great post, James! The structure of your writing is great! Two quick things, for your next blog post try to diversify your wording/vocabulary. The topic of your blog was the sense of fulfillment, yes, however what are some synonyms that you could mix into the writing so that the term isn’t repeated uber frequently? Another thing, this blog was very informative, however, there aren’t any citations. Since you noted direct percentages and definitions, those would have to be cited. In the future, make sure to do this so that readers not only enjoy your blog, but know as well that the information comes from a credible source. Good job adding media! Love to see it!
I enjoyed how you explained fulfillment in the beginning of the post as coming from one’s self-doing or actions. I personally think there is a false narrative that one can gain fulfillment from other people’s validation and actions, I really like how you made that point.
I thought the arrangement of the post was very persuasive, by explaining the most extreme arrangement of living off the grid to gain fulfillment first. I thought by doing that, and then explaining how that is not realistic, but other things (like to-do lists) are, makes the point of gaining fulfillment within yourself much more persuasive.
I liked how you started broadly by describing fulfillment and then narrowing it down to more personal ways to find smaller senses of accomplishment. The arrangement in your writing overall flowed well with the message you were sending.
Moreover, your post also felt motivating at certain points. Your stress on getting back outside and its benefits could definitely spark a move in your audience (especially when nodding toward an internal reward of fulfillment).