“The plain fact is that the planet does not need more successful people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every kind. It needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane. And these qualities have little to do with success as we have defined it.” – David Orr, Ecological Literacy: Educating our Children for a Sustainable World
This quote, often incorrectly attributed to the Dalai Lama, popped into my head on a recent walk. And I found that it encompasses my current mindset, especially as I get older.
Let me paint a picture for you: I spend a lot of time at home. I don’t have an “eating out” budget. Not really. I spend a lot of time and money caring for my special needs cats. I also spend time and money each year visiting my elderly parents who live 1500 miles away.
On the rare occasions I’m out after dark, it’s because I’m visiting nearby family. Or had to go to the grocery store. Or take a cat to the emergency vet.
But let me tell you about this home world I live in: it’s one in which I make music at the piano, or read a book or, not surprisingly, get work done at the computer. It’s one in which I love on all my cats, and yes, my beloved doggie, too. Dinner conversations around national politics, caring for family, fixing up our house, hiking/biking/boating/skiing in a new place are a daily occurrence with my husband of over two decades.
I relate all this not because I have smashing success as our society defines it. To be sure, friends from my younger days have fancier cars, bigger houses, and extraordinary titles or letters after their names. It’s all impressive. And I, too, wanted this for myself when I was going through school. One day I wanted to be a vet. Another day I wanted to be an astronaut. On yet another day I wanted to be a doctor. Or a writer. Or an artist. Or a teacher.
But the constant grind of showing up and doing the same thing over and over, day after day, never was something I could stomach for more than a year or two. That intense accountability, lest you be threatened with a lawsuit, became quite unappealing.
As an adult, I’ve enjoyed a lot of “wholesome” professions: a bookseller. A teacher. A ski instructor. Now I do a lot of design work at home.
As time goes on, however, I’m realizing that my success is less about climbing some societally-concocted ladder. It’s becoming a lot more about adding beauty to the world. And actually *accepting* that. The temptation to want to chase Shiny New Objects is real. But adding more beauty is becoming a front-and-center premise.
To make it more humane. With words that make people smile. Or art that visually affects the heart in positive ways. Or music that compels you to close your eyes for the full experience of just listening.
The older I get, the more I understand what makes me tick. I once held a peace rally in honor of my aunt in the El Paso shooting. It was a deep and powerful experience, but the stress of trying to organize something like that, get panel speakers, collaborate with local agencies to donate food, taught me that I’m better off contributing to the world in more subtle ways. But also in ways that encourage stewardship of the planet, the humane treatment of animals, encouraging social justice, equity and equality, and taking measures for self-care.
When I think of someone climbing the corporate ladder, I think well, they’re probably going to make a lot of money sometime and hopefully they use some of it to give back.
But honestly, I would be happier hearing about more people truly following their hearts and appreciating and contributing to the beauty that is life on planet earth.
It begs the question: what beauty are you going to contribute?
