In case you didn’t know, I’m about a quarter of the way through reading the Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin (given to me by my friend, Lindsay). I’m slowly trying to adopt some “happy” projects as mentioned in the book; and yes, even if you’re already happy, there are still lots of great tips that you can implement! Anyways, there was a line I read (and the re-read) the other night that struck something in me – I would say sadness perhaps?
Now I’m too lazy to go get the book and try and find where it was, so I will try and paraphrase as best I can. Note: it was from one of the comments she had received on her blog in relation to her happiness project, so I’m not sure who the original “author” is:
We can do anything we want, but we can’t do everything we want.
Isn’t that just deep! For me, it was almost like a slap in the face; “wait, why not!?” I immediately thought. I mean, why can’t I have it all? It’s not necessarily about having it all, but it’s about slowly working towards all my goals, right? Maybe, like others apparently, I am too ambitious? When I think about the list on this blog and all the goals I’ve set for myself that I haven’t even written down yet, I still feel like I can accomplish them – and why shouldn’t I?
Maybe that comment was written by someone wiser than I am, and/or maybe I’m still young and naïve, but I’d like to believe that I still have a shot a success. Obviously I know I won’t actually be able to accomplish 100% of the goals I set for myself, and am estimating it will probably be closer to an 80% range, but at least I have to still try for all of them!
So, can I just ignore this message/warning and blindly set forward like I was before? Perhaps, but at least it gives some pre-retrospective and lets me know that maybe I could end up spreading myself too thin. It makes someone (ie: me) stop in their tracks and think for a second; not necessarily bursting the perfect bubble we’ve created for our future selves, but definitely giving it a little squish. (On a similar note, I remember once when I was little and describing to my Mom how my life was going to be in the future, with a husband, 4 kids and the perfect house, she asked the thought-provoking question “Well, what if you don’t even get married?”, ultimately knocking the pegs down for the other ideas I had).
Sorry if I’ve rambled on too long, but I just had to share this quote that had me in a tizzy of sorts! From now on I think I’ll try and be a little bit wiser, and take a little bit more time when I am evaluating something new to take on – we will see how it goes!