When did it change? When did life go from the simple act of survival and just having a means to live, to an all out pursuit of riches and "the good life"? When did enough become too little and excess become barely enough?Watching a butterfly move from flower to flower, and realizing that it's daily life consists of eating enough to make it to the next day so that it can repeat the process, helps turn these simple questions into a mental plague.
Most people strive for success... but success in what?...and to what purpose? When you die, the success that you've accrued...what can be done with it? You can't bow-tie your accomplishments and pass them down to your children - they have to make a name for themselves and start from scratch.
Does that mean this can be considered a selfish pursuit? Often people work hard for success so that they can live comfortably and then have their children work with little to none so they might "learn the value of hard work" as it were...which begs the question: does that invalidate your original pursuit to make sure your kids lived a better life than yourself?
It would be foolish to say "stop putting in that work"...the real message is along the lines of "remember to stop and breathe." Don't work to the point that you forget to rest and that you forget the values that initially motivated you. Having direction and purpose is akin to fresh air to the soul...but what if you only find fresh air in having a purpose, and work is the only purpose provider you've attained?
The list of questions debating the purpose of success and your pursuit of it are boundless...but the important thing is that you at least have a question to ask.
Figure out what it means to be "self aware" and use that knowledge... that's how you impact the world.
-T. Drake
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