[Courses] Re: [Spineful Living, lesson 1: Dreams]

[Eleanor Saitta]

On Sat, Mar 31, 2007 at 07:46:23AM +1000, Kathryn Andersen wrote:
> That's one of the frustrations I get with "dreams and ambitions" -- I
> feel guilty because one is *supposed* to be ambitious, one is *supposed*
> to want to "get ahead", to climb the career ladder, to become a CEO (or
> at least get into Management).  Or if one is creative or artistic, one
> is *supposed* to want to sell one's work, one is *supposed* to want to
> become famous.
> 
> But I don't want any of those things.  I don't want to become famous, I
> just want to be appreciated by those who know me.  I don't want to order
> people around, I want to help them and mentor them.  I don't want to be
> sucked into the game of "he who dies with the most toys wins".
> 
> I love programming.  You'd have to chop my hands off to get me to stop
> programming, whether I was paid for it or not.  I like my job; I like
> the people I work with.  I like being creative (art, craft, and writing)
> but I don't want to go through the soul-destroying grind necessary to
> get paid for it.

Great!  Those are wonderful things.  Mentoring people is a great goal -- you
don't have to be doing it to get ahead; it's a good thing on its own, just
like being appreciated by the people you know.  Getting better at your arts,
programming and otherwise, are great goals.  Finding ways to do the things you
love without the way you want to, regardless of whether those ways result in
money and fame, or just enough to get what you need in life, is one of the
best things you can to for yourself.

Honestly, I think if your happiness depends on being successful at what you do
on someone else's scale, as opposed to just being able to do what you want and
do it the way you want to, you're up for a much harder life.

/Ella

[Hrm, it appears the .sig monster agrees with me on this one...]
-- 
I once lived a day as though it would be my last.

People are still angry.