"Living is not enough"

I've always thought that would make a good mantra. Even more so after a conversation I recently had with a musician about following dreams and doing what you love. But where does reality fit in?

The concept is simple, you will live and one day die and the saftey of a well paying job and a house by the coast aren't going to change that. So what matters, to me most people seem to just survive and accidently have a life. They meet someone who is passable, and get married, occasionally even stay married. But I wonder how many of them on their deathbed feel content with what they've done?

Thats all well and good but what matters? Is it achieving what you believe is important? Following an honour code that you value? Enjoying yourself and having as much fun as you can? None of these things appeal to me, reality seems to set in and as much as you may want to be/do something in life, it seems we rarely get a choice. Is it worth following a dream that will never come about? Does the act of following it bring satisfaction in and of itself? because for me it just makes me realise I've failed, and makes it harder to settle for whatever I have to do in the end.

there have been few things in my life I have truley wanted, but through my life i have come to the realisation that I will have none of them.

so for now,

Just living, will have to be enough