Spiritual and emotional growth happens in microscopic increments. — David Brooks
It’s great to have big goals and dreams, but they can sometimes steal from the present. There is no room for anything but THE MISSION. The world tarnishes. You begin to feel impoverished.
Perhaps focusing on THE MISSION isn’t the correct course of action. Keep it mind, but don’t be so consumed by it that you forget your true purpose. After all, is making the New York Times bestseller list all that wonderful a coup?
It is a feat, but it’s one with diminishing returns, not to mention obsession. Are you still in the top five? Did you slip a little? What to do, what to do? Such questions make for neurosis. You find friends are less and less willing to join you for a cup of coffee.
All right, so making the list is a nice dream, a nice achievement. It’s good to hope for it, but it shouldn’t replace what are better aims. Focus on things that will outlast the list. Chase joy and spiritual and emotional growth. Experience the world.
They will reward you. They are the ground from whence powerful writing, the kind of writing that shows up at the New York Times, comes. That isn’t the reason to pursue joy or any other long-lasting quality; no, that kind of pursuit is short-lived. You’ll quit once you think you’ve stretched yourself enough, have gained enough experience.
The truth? You can never stretch yourself too much or gain too much experience. The world and people have limitless treasures to share, and you, dear writer, have only a limited amount of time. Perhaps your name will live on because of the list, but is that how you want to remembered? Or do you want to be remembered for being a kind, generous, joyful person who was never too busy to have a cup of coffee with a friend or who chatted with the lonely people sitting on the park benches during your afternoon stroll?
Choosing the latter means gaining everything, possibly even a place on the list or a list you haven’t even considered yet. Choosing the first, though…choosing the first is an almost surefire way to gain the world but lose your soul. Is the first choice really worth that?
Image: Jimmy Brown (Creative Commons)