ambition.
June 15, 2009
Ambition. It’s a word fraught with judgment. Whether you have any or not. Too little or too much.
I’ve rolled this word around my mind and over my tongue these last few days…weeks…months, wondering where my ambition will lead me. If that destination will be a good place–or not. If I’ll find what I’m looking for once I arrive.
Can one have too much ambition?
Is ambition always self-serving, self-seeking?
Where is the balance between ambition and contentment? Does such balance exist?
What if I forgo my ambition for contentment? Does that relegate me to a mundane life?
If so, is that a bad trade? Is it a bad trade for me?
How much of life will I miss by setting aside personal ambition? How much will I miss if I don’t?
Is ambition a way of chasing happiness?
As always, good thoughts Jennie, these are important questions to ask. My hope is that if we are asking these kinds of questions we have a little bit better chance of avoiding the excesses of too much ambition or too little ambition. The related ambition issue for me is really quite an ancient one, and that is what to do about competing ambitions, primarily the desire to do right by my family, and the desire to succeed in my job. Most of the time, I feel like I fall short in both. Lord have mercy. . .