Ambition
I’m not interested in walking across the country (vanity), or visiting every baseball stadium (trivia). I don’t need to super-max wealth (accumulation), or stay quiet with my opinions (self-protection). That’s the negative frame of ambition, but with what shall I fill my own ambitious life?
I’ve realized that my ambition is diffuse. I want to execute the work only I can do, and to intensify my personhood in every possible way. Or, always keep putting more Me into the world.
— Evan Goldfine
Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement. In a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and excess as the good life, a person happy doing his own work is usually considered an eccentric, if not a subversive. Ambition is only understood if it’s to rise to the top of some imaginary ladder of success. Someone who takes an undemanding job because it affords him the time to pursue other interests and activities is considered a flake. A person who abandons a career in order to stay home and raise children is considered not to be living up to his potential — as if a job title and salary are the sole measure of human worth.
You’ll be told in a hundred ways, some subtle and some not, to keep climbing, and never be satisfied with where you are, who you are, and what you’re doing. There are a million ways to sell yourself out, and I guarantee you’ll hear about them.
To invent your own life’s meaning is not easy, but it’s still allowed, and I think you’ll be happier for the trouble.
— Bill Watterson
Whoa, this is forcing me to get out of my comfort zone. I love my comfort zone. I spent a long time building my comfort zone. It’s precious to me, and I love it and I want it.
— Pen Ward
