Ambition is a double-edged sword.
Or a coin with two distinct sides.
Or maybe it’s more like McDonald’s – a modest amount can fit into your diet, but too much will make you fat and sexually impotent.
Nope – that analogy didn’t make it.
But you get my point.
But I’ve thought about this a lot lately because I’ve been doing a lot lately.
More shows.
More social media.
More videos and songs and STUFF.
And truthfully, I love it. I love being busy. I love having a full life.
But at times, mainly when I am tired, I have a quiet voice asking, “Do you know why you’re doing this?”
And the trick is: I could give many answers. I could justify many answers. But I seek to find the core of truth that I know is present.
What is this really about?
Bringing light and love into the world?
1000%.
An aspiration to be paid for this work that is so important?
Definitely.
The ever-evolving puzzle that keeps me intellectually honest?
Uh-huh.
But what is it? Why do I do this?
I love stories.
God, I love stories.
I love how they carry the most complicated emotions with ease.
I love how they bring people together.
Their elegance, the curiosity they invite.
I do what I do and push the way that I push because I love stories.
And when I think about all of the things I might desire, there is one that, at least today, feels so clear:
I have the desire to be great at what I love to do.
They feed each other. I love doing it, so I want to do more of it. The more I do it, the more I become aware of how I can improve and grow in what I’m doing. The more I improve, the more I have opportunities to tell stories.
The cycle repeats beautifully.
On the outside, my life and my way of pursuing all of this must look complicated. Music and poetry and meditations and podcasts and shows and TikToks, etc.
And in some ways, assuredly, it is. I am not doing this in the most linear way possible.
But the source, the origin, the inspiration for all of these things, ironically, is quite simple. I’m just telling stories and loving bending and flexing my brain into new shapes to do so in ever-increasingly new ways.
I have always preached non-linearity.
But the singularity of its source feels new.
What used to feel like seeking and searching is feeling more like executing with more certainty and clarity. It feels like I’m allowing something to be communicated through me rather than searching for how or what I could be conveying.
Does this difference matter? Or make a difference?
Maybe not today.
But I have a strong sense that, over time, this internal compass will take me in directions that are more aligned, more exciting, and more fruitful than the constant search for where I might land.
So, per usual:
I can’t tell you where I’m going.
But I can tell you that I love the process of getting there.
And for now, that’s enough.