#ambitions
The dark of our long New England winter is the perfect time to clear what no longer serves us well, and to listen to our heart as we set our goals and aspirations.
The last couple of years, I’ve found it really helpful to work with Danielle LaPorte’s Desire Map process, Ink + Volt’s planners, and returning frequently to the wisdom of Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estesto stay grounded in my…
to all the small business that pop up on my IG explore page, I’m coming for you
as soon as I have money
The Voyage of Life (Childhood, Youth, Manhood, and Old Age) by Thomas Cole
is a series of four paintings created by Thomas Cole in 1842, representing an allegory of the four stages of human life. The paintings, Childhood, Youth, Manhood, and Old Age, depict a voyager who travels in a boat on a river through the mid-19th-century American wilderness. In each painting the voyager rides the boat on the River of Life accompanied by a guardian angel. The landscape, each reflecting one of the four seasons of the year, plays a major role in conveying the story. With each installment the boat’s direction of travel is reversed from the previous picture. In childhood, the infant glides from a dark cave into a rich, green landscape. As a youth, the boy takes control of the boat and aims for a shining castle in the sky. In manhood, the adult relies on prayer and religious faith to sustain him through rough waters and a threatening landscape. Finally, the man becomes old and the angel guides him to heaven across the waters of eternity.
you got your passion, you got your pride
but don’t you know that only fools are satisfied?
dream on, but don’t imagine they’ll all come true
when will you realize Vienna waits for you?
slow down you crazy child;
slow down you’re doing fine.
(vienna, billy joel)
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this week i found a playlist on spotify for bonnaroo. i’m not going to bonnaroo, and i don’t really care that i’m not. but i did see a bunch of billy joel tunes on the playlist because he’s one of the headliners.
this song i’ve always loved, but hit me a bit more right now because somewhere along the line everyone has gotten so caught up in achieving goals and reaching dreams and we’ve forgotten how to just enjoy life day by day. we always have something to work towards, something to do, more money to make, more promotion to do for a business we’ve just started on etsy or instagram, plans to make, work to do to create our future. we’ve forgotten how to be in the present.
don’t get me wrong. i love being ambitious and goal-oriented. having goals and dreams is absolutely the best way to live, but we also really need to enjoy the process. realize it’s okay if you fall a bit off track sometimes. realize it’s okay that your ambitions aren’t on schedule if you’re enjoying the process (enjoying life). it’s okay to forget about ‘hustling’ sometimes. you can afford to lose a day or two.
mostly it’s about finding the right balance between being determined but enjoying every second of where you are now.
1. Scientist
2.Comedian
3. Pornstar
4. “coffee shop” owner
5. Rapper
