That the grand design of a human life is to make some sort of massive impact on the world or produce some work of beautiful art that will outlive you.
I grew up with a family of artists, so that plus college instilled that mindset. All it did was instill existential dread and turn me into such a perfectionist that I stopped writing outside of my job and quit playing music for years.
I’m also reminding myself that all I really owe the world is to not make it a worse place and not to hurt anyone. I want to do right by my friends, family and cats, and be kind to others. Maybe I want to volunteer somewhere if I find something I intrinsically enjoy doing. But nothing I do will ever change the world; as an individual, I will never be able to change things in culture and society I don’t like. Someday I will be forgotten to time, and that’s okay.
That the grand design of a human life is to make some sort of massive impact on the world or produce some work of beautiful art that will outlive you.
I grew up with a family of artists, so that plus college instilled that mindset. All it did was instill existential dread and turn me into such a perfectionist that I stopped writing outside of my job and quit playing music for years.
I’m also reminding myself that all I really owe the world is to not make it a worse place and not to hurt anyone. I want to do right by my friends, family and cats, and be kind to others. Maybe I want to volunteer somewhere if I find something I intrinsically enjoy doing. But nothing I do will ever change the world; as an individual, I will never be able to change things in culture and society I don’t like. Someday I will be forgotten to time, and that’s okay.