We court trouble when we ask any one thing to be our everything—one job to give meaning, one person to make us whole, one goal to justify our life. No single element, focus, or passion (no matter how intense or all-consuming) can carry that weight. Life works best as a portfolio of satisfactions: work that matters, relationships that nurture, pursuits that challenge, recreations that restore.
Multiple passions are a form of emotional redundancy, a safety net if you will. If a person finds joy and identity in multiple areas, a setback in one area can be more easily taken in stride. Life is dynamic, and personal values and interests naturally shift over time. What felt like ‘Everything’ at age twenty may feel hollow at age fifty. As one passion wanes or matures, others stand ready to take a more central role.
Closing Quotes:
“No single arena of life can hold the fullness of being alive.” – David Whyte, Consolations
“If you get too attached to any one outcome, you set yourself up for suffering.” – Dalai Lama XIV
“To live only for one goal is to be chained to it; to live for many is to be free among them.” – Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
“To be happy, one must be wise enough to recognize that no single source of joy can suffice.” – Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier
Note: Every effort has been made to properly source any 3rd person material. I am, however, a voracious reader. If anyone finds any unattributed material, pls let me know asap and I will be delighted to give credit where credit is due.
“All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832
