Haven’t You Already?

I hadn’t been very happy for a while.

One night, my wife asked me, “What’s your ideal state, say, ten years from now?”

I said: money, so I wouldn’t have to work this hard. Time, so I’d have more flexibility. And impact, so I could lift up the people I care about.

“But haven’t you already got all of these?” she said. “You’re making more than you did at your old job. You had the flexibility to live on another continent for the summer. And you’re writing things that reach people.”

Instead of fixating on the gap between our ideal life and reality, maybe we need to give ourselves some grace.

We’re already living part of the life we once dreamed of.