I love idealism. Idealistic people tend to be positive and I love to be around their positive energy. One of the best qualities of youngsters is the unabashed idealism that exudes from their veins. Some want to work to make the world a better place, while others want to improve the lives of their loved ones. For the fortunate ones the “real world” has not yet crept into their daily life.

Slowly but surely as we grow older it’s inevitable that the idea of living a pure idealistic life begins to fade. Why is this and how do we keep some of those idealistic qualities from fading from our lives completely?

First let’s define what I mean by the “real world”. This means different things to everyone. To me the real world was the time that I had to start taking responsibility for myself both emotionally and financially. I couldn’t rely my parents for taking care of me anymore. I can remember living in my apartment with at the time my fiancé and saying to myself, “Wow this living on my own thing is going to be a lot harder than I thought.” I began to have to make decisions on things that didn’t support my idealistic view of the world. I can remember like it was yesterday when I came to the realization that the world wasn’t always going to treat me fairly and some of my idealistic tendencies would have to be compromised to reach my personal goals. That was a real sobering moment. It was like childhood was over and adulthood began.

Ok enough of the depressing side of the conversation. I didn’t say that I had to throw out all of my idealistic views of the world because I was now an adult. I was 23 years old and when I looked around the room at my fellow workers who were all older than myself I saw in there actions that whatever idealism that had in their lives vanished. I wanted to be different. No, in fact if I could just keep a part of that positive idealistic side of me alive I thought it might give me a leg up on my peers and it could help me achieve my personal professional goals. And you know what? It did!

Idealism is one of the qualities that make human’s special. Empathy for our fellow man puts purpose in one’s life when the everyday monotony of it can get overwhelming. As I have gotten older I have become a lot less judgmental on other people’s lives and opinions. You never know what is going on in someone’s life behind closed doors. Accept that the decisions that you have to make will not always have a black and white answer. Most of them will be “gray”. That doesn’t mean that you still can’t be an idealistic person. You just have to be more selective on which idealistic values carry the most weight. In other words, which are you the most passionate about? Once you’ve defined them then find a way to fold them into your weekly or at worst your monthly schedule. There are many ways to do this. Just find the path of least resistance that gives you the most fulfillment. I assure you it will keep you more grounded and make you feel that you are still trying to make our planet a better place to live.