Never be satisfied, our culture tells us. There’s no such thing as too much. If it’s good to have something, it’s better to have more. So how do we know how much is enough?
Goals progress:
- Marathon: On track. I’ll be heading out to run three miles when I finish this.
- Two Square Yards of Earth: Making Progress. Slowly; the last week or so has been a little like pulling crocodile teeth.
- 100 Posts: On Track. This is my 29th post for the year.
In our culture, we admire those who have more than we do. It might be more fame, or more money, or more impact, or more Twitter followers, or more perfect-life pictures on Instagram, or more friends, or more parties, or more house.
After all, if we have some and they have more, they must be more successful than we are. They must be doing something more right.
If they have more, we think, they must be more.
So we set out to have as much as they have so we can be as great as they are. We may even get there.
And when we do, we realize our life hasn’t really changed all that much, and we look at the next person who has more than we do, and we resolve to chase what he has.
And when we get there, we realize that’s not enough, either.
Most of us don’t stop to consider the common thread between before and after, the reason we’re still not content, the reason we can’t be satisfied with where we are. It’s because we’re still the same person, with the same talents and insecurities, the same strengths and weaknesses and dreams and points of unhappiness.
Because we got the equation wrong. We thought we had to have more in order to be more, when what we really need is just to be more. And being more starts with realizing we already have everything we need. That’s hard to do in a world of Trumps and Clintons and Kardashians.
Here’s the deal: being more, becoming more, is quite a bit harder than simply having more. It takes hard work and dedication and courage. It’s also much more rewarding.
Decide you have enough, and decide to become more than you are. You may just discover it’s worth it.