So, I have come to the conclusion that the word “want” in my brain has two closely related meanings.
- Something I want right now for the dopamine. Ex Ice Cream.
- Something that I want for my self long term. Ex to be healthy.
It is hard enough to organize my thoughts normally, but when I have competing wants like Ice Cream, vs to be healthy. It really sucks to have the same word for both.
Does anyone else feel this way? Is there other words that you use to help separated these ideas in your head?
It might be a language issue. Like in English you can love ice cream, you can love going hiking and you can love your pet. Same word but… we could do with more nuance. In Spanish there are two different words for “to be”. A temporary versus a permanent state. I am sad (at the moment) versus I am sad (I’ve been clinically depressed my entire life). In English you would probably have to add in a word or two to let the listener / reader know how long you’d been sad for. Trying to get thoughts into language doesn’t always translate perfectly and sometimes we can only get close to the expression we seek. You could try browsing a thesaurus and choosing different words for slightly different feelings. i.e. I desire ice cream vs I seek to be healthy.