What I'm learning is that it is important to be decisive and go after what you want, but at the same time let go of wanting things to work out a certain way.
Some might describe this as not being attached to outcomes. I call this the willingness to let life surprise me, or the willingness to live in a world of 'maybe'.
Like human happiness, teenage happiness does not flourish when everyone has the freedom to live just as they please. Where there is neither order nor necessity in life—no constraints, no inhibitions, no discomfort—life becomes both relaxing and boring, as American philosopher Allan Bloom notes. A soft imprisonment.
Do something that won’t compute. Following this maxim may mean I will soon become obsolete, outpaced by those who calculate their utils and control their time and carefully calibrate their existence. But I’ve grown contented with that fate. I wish to live and die as I am: wholly, honestly, and messily; constantly awed by life’s imperfection;... See more