Going into the new year 2017, I feel it is very necessary to have a deeply intellectual stimulating conversation about the world, and life.
I'm very interested in hearing everyone's outlooks on life and how they go about perceiving the world.
I find myself, as i'm sure many people do, questioning the purpose of life on Earth. Regarding the fact that I am an atheist, my outlook on life is much different than you'd expect however. Sometimes I wonder why I continue carrying forth with my burdens if they won't be buried in my grave with me, and sometimes I also find myself thinking about how people will view me once I am dead. The convoluted concepts of life and death are perceived different by many people, and I am no exception. My dream career is to be a full time music producer/DJ, and it is a struggle and a half getting to that point. I work daily all week, and sometimes I wonder how much longer until I can quit my job and do what I love. Some people try and try yet end up unsuccessful and have to resort to a fall back job plan. Some people scrape by in life with maximum effort, and some people barely try and are handed everything in life. 

I suppose what I am getting at is that to me, life is about the struggle of finding a purpose in the world, and achieving that purpose. I don't just want to get married, have kids and retire. I want more out of life. I only believe in this life, so I want to milk it for every opportunity of happiness possible. My childhood was decently rough, not so bad that I would call myself scarred, but rough enough to shape me into an average person with little opportunity. I live in a town where most of the populous is poverish or lower-middle class. That being said, the struggle to get myself out there is harder than if I was born into an upper-middle class/high class family in a big city. The education system here is highly broken and thus as a result, a lot of children miss the opportunity for growth and intellectual stimulation. There are a lot of thugs and criminals, lots of minimum wage jobs, lots of dying franchises. 

Now I am not saying that I am hopeless, because I believe that I can do what I love if I work hard for it, but the question is what steps do I take and when. This is the same question a lot of people ask themselves daily. Finding your dream is easy. Knowing exactly how to get there is extremely difficult on the contrary. I have higher opportunities than the kid next door to me, and he has more than the kid down the block from him. That's how the world works, in an Escher stair painting we call life. It's all about where you start and where you're going. Some people have higher dreams, and are born into a low income family. However a lot of them make it when they try their best. Some people have low goals and are born into middle class families yet never make it because they lack the motivation. It interests me how the psychology of where and how you are born determines how you develop as a personality. That's not to say that everyone fits my examples, however a majority do.

So i'd like to know a few things about you:
Where were you born, and into what social class?
What are your aspirations?
How are you planning to get to the goal(s)? 
Do you feel confident in yourself to do what you want for a living?

Confidence is a major factor in this discussion because without it, there is no motivation nor is there a driving force to push you forward. Everyone has inner confidence but it needs to be drawn out. Mine was drawn out freshman year of high school. Ever since that day I learned to look around the world with optimism. Despite the fact that there are many depressing and aggressive forces in the world, there is always a silver lining. As a side dream I also wish to teach a class on how to be optimistic and self-confident without anyone else's aid. I say that because I grew up with kids who never had loving parents to guide them, or friends to have their back. I was one of those kids, and because of that I learned to teach myself my own survival and thriving instincts. 

As a kid people might have asked or told you what you were going to do in the future. I for one never knew, I just knew I liked making music. It's a lot of pressure to put on a child to constantly bug them with their future because children live moment by moment for the most part. Once you start to grow up and age you start to think more and more forward, up until you are thinking about your death. Which is how this conversation begins. 

So I'd also like to ask one more question:
What do you feel you want to accomplish before you die? Not just your dream job but any thing(s) that you feel you prioritize before you are buried in the earth (or cremated).

Austin Winter :

First, you shouldn't dismiss theism so readily. Theism is the intellectual position. Atheism is a fad.

Before I am buried in the earth, I want to aid in the advancement of technology, morality, and faith. I plan on volunteering, educating, and publishing to accomplish my goals.

My life is all about achieving my dreams, make my parents proud of me, and never let the past gets in my way to achieve those, and so far, it's been great.
How do i see my life? Sometimes, i feel like I'll never achieve my dream which is to be a full time producer/DJ too due to the amount of competition thats going on in the music industry, and it really makes me feel like I'll never live a good life cause, this is the only thing that I enjoy doing and i know i can grow up and get money from my hobby, even tho i get a job that give me a lot of money, I'll never enjoy it cause, its not my passion. Once i see things like this, I'll get so unmotivated and started to abandon my music projects for a while and basically get so frustrated for absolutely nothing, and its bad for me and the dream that i'm chasing cause i can't just waste my time getting frustrated and never get the job done, i really regret everytime i visualize my life in the future without being able to achieve my dream. But sometimes, i also think that one day, I'll achive my dream as long as i pray to god, keep grinding hard, never look back, and take all the feedbacks that i get from my music to turn myself into a better producer. Like, my friends from my label has been doing great in 2016 and they're what keeps me motivated to keep grinding and not letting myself be a 'deadweight' to the label, cause, i need to release more stuff and make a name for myself, like i'm still 16 and i have a lot of time to produce and make music. I mean I can't really produce 24 hours a day, my ear will get soar and the track will sounds bad so I always took a break after 5 hours of grinding, and that's when vizzed came handy lol, but yeah, i can see my life to be better in the future if i keep grinding hard.
What's my aspirations? Well, my ambition is always to become a full time DJ/Producer, like getting my track signed in my favorite label, getting invited to gigs and festivals, that's what a great life in my point of view.
How am i planning to get to my goals? Well, i've started music production a year ago, that time i really don't know what I'm doing, so i started as a Tropical House producer cause it's kinda easy and enjoyable to do that, but my passion is always Dubstep, Riddim Dubstep to be specific, and in these 1 year i've passed, i found out that producing dubstep is not easy, and i need to learn a lot about that, especially about sound designing cause labels want something original you know. So, from now on, I planned to learn more about sound designing since I haven't master that and i've targeted multiple labels once i'm able to make the original sound you know, so, i'm pushing myself to really learn about sound designing in this 2017 so i can master it as soon as possible, so i can start making WIPs and start sending demos to the label that i've targeted and i hope I'll get to that point soon.
Am i confident doing this? Absolutely, i mean i get a lot of spicy critics left right and center, but i take those critics to make myself a better producer, and as time goes by, the spicy critics fades away and i feel really confident about my abilities. I mean, i know me and my musics aren't perfect yet, i still need to learn about how to get clean mix and stuff, but i am confident.
What do i want to happen before i die? Well, i really really want to see a big smile from my mom and dad before i die, i really want to make them feel happy, and make them feel that their son can provide them the things they need so they don't need to think a lot anymore, what I'm trying to say is, i want to make my parents to have a peaceful and happy life before i die.

I hope all of my answers makes sense cause im not a super intelligent person lol

You say:

'Regarding the fact that I am an atheist, my outlook on life is much different than you'd expect however. Sometimes I wonder why I continue carrying forth with my burdens if they won't be buried in my grave with me, and sometimes I also find myself thinking about how people will view me once I am dead."

Let me highlight a part of that:
"Sometimes I wonder why I continue carrying forth with my burdens if they won't be buried in my grave with me"

Jesus says:
(Matthew 11:28-30)
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Austin Winter : The answers to your questions and concerns are as difficult or easy as you want them to be, but you have to find them yourself. Don't rely on others to tell you how to live.

There's a great quote from Thoreau that goes "The youth gets together his materials to build a bridge to the moon, or, perchance, a palace or temple on the earth, and, at length, the middle-aged man concludes to build a woodshed with them." Ambition is cheap. I lost a large part of my ambition over the years as I realised I wanted to do things that appealed to me, not to impress other people or live up to their expectations. The question is what you really want to do, and what you're willing to sacrifice to get it.

Austin Winter : I suppose I'll answer your questions since few have.

I was born in Sweden, Lund which borders the city I've spent almost all of my life in, Malmö.

I haven't seen an exact definition for where the border between middle class and working class is but I consider myself working class as everyone in my family work/worked working class jobs. My mother for example is an assistant nurse and my brother is a bed salesman. My other brother lives on welfare. I spent most of my younger years being raised by my single mother who was quite poor (which I never realized at the time). Things have gotten better at this point though.

Currently I go to school (equivalent of about 12th grade I guess) as well as work part time as a dishwasher at a restaurant. I'm maintaining a pretty high average and have a history of doing well in school all the way since primary. Pretty much everyone else in my class are middle class to upper middle class people who live outside the city and have highly educated parents. I used to go to school where pretty much only working class children went but I got out of that with good grades. The school is private based but there's no tuition fee (Swedish law forbids tuition fee even at university level). My aspiration is to do something no one in my current close family has achieved and probably never will. Get a university degree and if all goes well go on to do a masters or perhaps even a PhD.

The current degree I'm looking at is a joint bachelors in Economics/Mathematics that would allow me to pursue either subject at a master level depending on my choice of specialization. I will likely be starting university in about one and a half year from now. To do the degree I want to it will require me to move to Stockholm which is a city that's quite far away from where I live being the capital of Sweden. I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to do it but I will likely try to get the aid of my aunt (who lives there) take out a lot of loans as well as using life insurance money that I have from my father passing away.

As for why I'm choosing those particular subjects it's because I've always enjoyed the social sciences and mathematics and I would say  I have an aptitude for them. Since economics is also one of the more lucrative degrees (and fits well with knowledge of mathematics) it made sense. Ironically my dad whom I barely had any contact with also wanted me to become a math professor claiming to be a mathematician before immigrating to Sweden from Egypt. I hope to study abroad during my university time by doing an exchange year hopefully in Japan as I've always been interested in the culture and am currently taking Japanese. This way I don't have to pay tuition and primarily have to worry about living expenses. I will likely be applying for whatever scholarships I can though.

I've grown up around working class people and I know the effects of living in such an environment. Everyone in my family regret not trying harder in school when they had the chance. I want to achieve what they never could. I see it as doing it for them as much as I am for myself. I want to build a better life for myself, get a job that actually interests me and that has a decent pay. I also want to travel and see different parts of the world maybe even live or move to another country if I'm able to and want to in the future. At some point I want to settle down, start a family and have kids.

It's going to be an uphill struggle, I realize that. Nothing worth having in this world comes easy. If I didn't have to struggle to achieve my dreams then it wouldn't feel right. I'm confident that I'm doing what's best for myself by pursuing something I know I have a genuine interest in I've never been afraid to state my beliefs since I was bullied at a young age and had to learn to stand up for myself. I actually have an idea of what I want to do which is something many people spend their entire without ever figuring it out. I've gotten as far as I have on my own and I feel I have the potential, so it's only a matter of meeting it. People have been born into much more unfortunate circumstances than I have and have still prevailed. I was born with the ability to shape my own path thanks to the country I live in. So I know that me not succeeding ultimately comes down to me giving up and not working hard enough for it.

Txgangsta : Disregarding the fact that you are wrong about an Atheistic view point not being a valid view point to have, Atheism is not a fad. Atheists have always existed in some capacity it was simply not socially acceptable to be one in the past and still is not in some parts of the world. Being open about it lead to social consequences and could also pose a threat to your livelihood therefore many did not even consider it in the first case. I've personally dealt with it as well. Sure while some might call themselves an atheist because it's growing and seem like the rebel thing those are a small minority. The idea of god and some sort of afterlife existing is a much more comforting to most people.

@txgangsta The point of this post was not to discuss religious beliefs. I merely brought up my lack of faith because it has to do with my outlook on life as a concept. Calling my ideologies wrong because you don't agree with them is childish and will be treated as such. Atheism is just as much a fad as Theism because nearly half of the American population alone identifies as Atheist, while another near half identifies as Christian. That is not a debate that we need to have here because I already spend most of my off time debating theists anyway, I'd rather not spend my week doing it again. On the flip side I am glad you have a plan for your life and that you are embracing the beliefs you have even if they aren't unanimously agreed upon. 

@Zlinqx That's a very telling story of the cross between middle class and working class. Your family seems split up between the two and that is interesting to note because the latter of success in the work force differs from person to person. And it also depends on which steps you take, however you seem to be on a good path. I am glad you have the morals of a person who works for what they want because you seem to have an open mind and a very intellectual point of view which is respectful.

@skrt-lord As an electronic producer myself, I know exactly where you are coming from. It has been quite the struggle just getting people to listen to my music not to mention enjoy it, so I'll spend hours in the studio messing with melodies and sounds until I either catch on to something or I give up for that day. However all I can say is forget the mainstream industry. They will never recognize you as a talented artist, they just want people like Martin Garrix with generic Big Room/EDM dance hits. Riddim Dubstep is a respectable sub-genre and one that takes a lot of mastering so I am glad you are pursuing what you love. I get the same way too, feeling that I'll be stuck in my fulltime job forever and not amount to the producer I strive to be but at the end of the day I always remember that success does not come over night, and giving up drops my chances to 0%. The only thing I do know is that doing things with your own style and uniqueness is what gets you noticed by outside labels. Indie labels will help you climb to the top, and they are the most trustworthy. The website I use to get my music on iTunes allows me to start a label if I want to and I plan to sometime next year.

Austin Winter : yeah, i feel you dude. Its so frustrating when you opened up your DAW and can't think of anything to make. And its really a hard feeling when your music don't get as much attention as you want. Like, i know i'm a small producer, but i pour my heart and soul into my stuff and it makes me devastated if my music isn't doing well, but I'm very grateful that i have my friends from the label that I signed in really supports me by giving me feedbacks and stuff.
And you can't really do anything about the popularity that Big Room gets, every EDM posers listen to Big Room, but, i knew that every genre have its own market, like just because you don't follow the mainstream, doesn't mean you're doom. I know a bit about the Dubstep market and stuff (like i know the big labels, as well the small one cause I've been listening dubstep for too long now) and i know that, its not as big as bigroom, progressive house and a crappy future bass with corny vocal chops market, but its not gonna make me stop to produce riddim cause i just love the genre. And yeah, never give up dude, you don't know when life's gonna hit ya with a banger, like one of my friends is recently get signed to Armada Captivating (o think its a sublabel from armada, armin van buuren's label) and its really motivated me to keep pushing forward to achieve my targets. NEVER GIVE UP FAMS!

skrt-lord : link me your stuff and ill follow you and give it a listen! i love supporting my fellow artists!

Zlinqx : the ancient philosophers did not discuss God as a comfort. They said God was an intellectual reality. Many of them even said comfort was an illusion, yet they still asserted the existence of God. This is because they understood logic. God is a necessity in logic discourse, otherwise circular reasoning and infinite regresses are acceptable beliefs. Even now, many Christians will say God is fearful and difficult. Though yes, the common reason for belief, I think, is it's just easier for people. Even people often considered boarderline atheist after the renaissance (Spinoza is the guy I'm thinking of) still conceived of a God, albeit radically different than his predecessors. Gods can be radically different than previously thought and still be Gods. Aquinas thought God was different from the Christians before him, and Spinoza based his pantheism on Aquinas. I agree with a lot of Spinoza's development, and I do not conceive of theism in a traditional "two-worlds" fashion. I simply needed to read the history of philosophy.

Austin Winter : I'm curious if you think my goals can be unanimously shared by atheists, or if you think they are rational goals to be shared by others.

Txgangsta : Again, the point of this thread is not to have a religious debate. I did not call you out or your religious beliefs. I simply used the fact that I am an atheist as a grounds for my view of life and death for a few seconds of my original thread. If I wanted to debate you I would've made a thread for that. I did not call your beliefs wrong, I simply hold my own lack of belief and that is that. I was raised catholic, I spent nearly a decade of my young life trying to find answers and when I realized that I did not find anything but scientific explanations for the phenomena of the universe, I simply deemed myself a non-theist, or atheist. 
I do not think you are wrong for holding your own beliefs, and I will not debate with you on the existence of a god on this thread. I debate theists all the time and it becomes very tiring having to write paragraphs daily trying to get to people so let us just move on with the thread and continue the discussion about life goals.
Thank you.

The religious part of the discussion is getting away from the original objective. Perhaps I can center everything.

To answer the questions:

1. I was born just outside Detroit, Michigan, and I consider my family well dug into 'middle class.' We were by no means wealthy or rich but I don't remember not having something because we couldn't pay for it. My dad worked a ton and he wasn't around a whole lot when I was growing up so we could support a comfortable lifestyle.

2. I'm 35, married, and I have kids and a house. My aspirations have changed over the years as I've gotten older. Your original post says you don't want to just be married with kids with retirement coming up. It turns out, most of the things I do are done so I can enjoy my wife and kids and life as it comes. I used to define myself by my work and my career. I've gotten away from that because I'm happy when I'm around family and we're doing things together. Work and career let me go home every day and share experiences with my family. That has become more important to me than a lot of other things. I still aspire to climb the ladder in my corporation, the YMCA, and I am the director of a gym and more is coming, but that is secondary.

3. My goals are planned for me when it comes to career development. The track I am on is middle to upper management and they know what they want to see and they want me to experience before I take a next step. My goals are simply to continue executing the duties set before me at a high level and ask for help when I need it. I find asking for help keeps me looped in with what else is happening above my head on the career ladder and they look kindly on me for wanting to grow and participate more. It's a game. How much can I do myself and be successful and how much can I engage my leadership to show I'm still playing for them?

4. I am wholly confident I can do what I want. I love my job, I have the right contacts, the right people are supporting me, and I'm good at what I do. I have a smile that glows with the force of 1,000 suns and people respond to the positive energy I put out there all the time. It's great success and nothing but up is the plan.

So, from a grown man, here's what I have experienced. Life is meant to be an experience and it comes best when you don't look at it too hard. My friends are busy running around, defining themselves as their jobs, like, "I'm an accountant," or "I'm a firefighter." I think it's the other way around. Your career doesn't define you and make you a better person than someone who has no career. A career is a way to pay bills and put you in a position to enjoy life.

If you love what you do, like I do and what you do with your music, then life is even better. Some people hate their jobs but are afraid to make a change.

Take control of your life and find ways to get to what you want. The goals you set are for you and no one else. Throw out religious affiliation, throw out status and social standing. Throw out death too. If you think about it or worry about it, you're wasting time not doing what you should be doing. I don't give it a second thought. It will come and nothing I can do will stop it, just prolong it.

I'd encourage you, Austin, to ask yourself a few questions:

1. What makes me happy?
2. How do I get to that point?
3. Who do I ask for help?

Go from there. Good luck.