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Venturing in Venice: What is the True Meaning of Life? • Madison Damore There is an entirely different way to live your life and be happy

Should we work to live or live to work? Seems like a pretty obvious answer, yet for some reason it's not. Work to live means prioritizing life, using work as a means to support the things that bring us joy. Live to work, on the other hand, means placing work at the center of our existence, relying on it for fulfillment and identity. In today’s fast-paced world, it is often difficult to find what many call “the work life balance”. But why is that? Shouldn’t we be prioritizing time with family, sunny days, the kinds of experiences we remember for a lifetime, rather than being held hostage by our cubicles and computers?

Venice Dining by the Canals

I traveled to Venice, Italy while in highschool. I had been out of the country before, but this was my first time in Europe.  My mom and I hijacked my dads work trip by adding room for 2 in an already quite small hotel room. It was 2019, I was 16, and I had little understanding of what the “real world” truly looked like. Growing up near the fast-moving rhythm of the metropolitan area, I only knew hustle. But venturing in Venice introduced me to a different kind of lifestyle – no constant phone calls, three-hour lunches, and afternoons spent people-watching in the sun, even on a Monday or Tuesday. It was my first real glimpse into a work to live mentality. The sad part was, it blew my mind. How could such simplicities of life seem like such a foreign concept?

Even at 16, I left Venice with a shift in my perspective. I started to absorb what really mattered. I thought that kind of lifestyle was exclusive to Europe, until I went to California.

My first trip was during my sophomore year of college when I was 19, and then again this year, at 21, as a senior. And what I found was familiar, it was a similar lifestyle centered around the present moment. Beach days, cliffside hikes, slow dinners with family and friends. During my most recent trip, I went on a cave kayaking tour. My guide, only two years older than me, had just graduated from college. Instead of rushing into a traditional job, she chose to do something she loved that also supported her – guiding tours on the water. Her next move? Becoming a ski instructor in the mountains. That moment made me realize, you don’t have to travel across the world to live differently. Sometimes, it’s just the other side of the country.

So why do I bring up these two moments? Because growing up on the East Coast, especially near New York, I didn’t realize places like this existed. Places where experiences, memories, and happiness come before getting that job promotion or before getting to the next place. Where presence is prioritized over progress. Where the goal isn’t always the next step, but the current moment. We live on a planet filled with forests, oceans, and lakes, yet we fill our days with waking up, eating, scrolling, working, repeating. We have people who love us, but we ignore them for work emails and “just one more thing”.

Become a ski instructor!

We just need to stop for a moment. Stop for a moment and breathe. Stop for a moment and actually live. Live for the simple joys of life: a sunny morning, a good coffee, lunch with someone you love. Step outside of the routine – swim in the ocean on a random Tuesday, book that trip you’ve been putting off, do something that scares yet excites you.

I get it, life is expensive. Bills pile up. There’s pressure to both perform and succeed. But that doesn’t mean we have to sacrifice our happiness along the way. When did we decide that happiness was optional? Maybe, just maybe, the world would rotate a little smoother if we gave ourselves the permission to slow down. So, I ask of you to just take the time and smell the flowers. Because in the end, life is meant to be lived – not just worked through.

Work to live or live to work – which one are you choosing today?

© Madison Damore 4.10.25
College of Charleston Senior

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