Do you have ambitions?

[Dias]

I recently created a small list of goals for the first time in my life and I am doing some and others I do not .
But on the long term sometimes I think I would like to take a degree on Psychology, but I would have to do it at distance, not attending the classes.

 

[Bolletje]

I have ambitions, but I’m beginning to fear that my mental health issues will make it very difficult for me to attain those goals and even harder to maintain them.
I’m an ambitious person, I had my career planned out and I am good at what I do. Too bad that said career takes so much of me that it leaves me drained and especially vulnerable to burn out.
Now that it’s become clear that I’ll probably have to let go of my ambitions, I feel quite directionless and lost. I don’t know what will become of me.

 

[SeanDIdgeridoo1996]

Just saw this and decided to give my two cents, goals and ambitions aren't something I've ever really thought about but now that I've graduated it's something that I've been considering a lot. I suppose my main goals are to learn more about horticulture, do something with music and to get my head on straight.

 

[Emily Canafax]

Reading these responses, I am realizing I only had ambition because it was spoon-fed to me when I was young. I am so happy surviving each day right now, and healther than I have ever been. This is the longest I've been unemployed since I started working more than half my life ago (I'm 33, for perspective). I have applied ambition in several areas, but the dream of a sustained successful destination is for not. Attainable? You can do anything, and don't ever forget it. Seriously. If you feel like something is lacking without having an ambition, pick something you really liked to do and try a career at it. I promise it won't last, but get on that rollercoaster anyway. It's worth any experience to give it a shot. All opinions, of course. And it should also be stated that I tend to do things the hard way.

 

[oregano]

I wanted to be wealthy too, but just so that I wouldn't have to be a slave in an office with a tyrannical boss, forced to do something I hate just so I could send most of my paycheck to creditors to make minimum payments on constantly snowballing debt. And then it was to start a business so I could live in the countryside away from "normal" people and provide for myself. Now it's to live in a remote area and live off the land and thus maybe avoid the resource crunch and accompanying society wide panic when everybody who has been forced to slave away their lives at jobs they hate just to pay debt and feed their kids suddenly realize that "that's all folks" and that there's no more oil and water and food and thus no way to feed their kids. Right now I own the land and some of the stuff I'll need, and am saving for the cabin. Totally off grid of course.

 

[BrokenBoy]

Not really.

 

[Gracey]

I have had many.

Once upon a time my thoughts were,
“I AM going to ...”
and off I would go and do ... whatever.


Then I had children.
Similar mindset, “I am going to ...”

The results of my efforts invested into others so that they could do .... whatever, or be ...whatever,
In triplicate.

If I’d applied myself to a career in the same way for the same length of time I’d own the company by now.
(If I didn’t get bored first)

Current ambition, aspiration even,
Is to get out of bed in a morning and find something productive to do with my day.
A result for my efforts.

I’m exactly where I need (not want) to be.

I miss the buzz of deciding “I AM going to...” and off I would go and do it,
for myself.
(Not children, husband, parents, others)

 

[Adora]

I never was interested in being rich but all I ever wanted was peace and security due to having years of instability and not knowing if I was about to kicked out of a home or I was going to get abused again by my father but I guess my ambition is to feel safe and not have to be hyper vigilant all the time.

 

[Fiona]

You're describing here a problem with which our world is struggling right now (or maybe always). "You have to be rich, famous, extremely beautiful, have important job..." etc. It's a trap and I think it's good that you don't fall for this. Ambitions shouldn't be something you're just showing other people, rather self-fulfillment. It can of course involve those aspects but not neccessarly, not everyone want same things in life.

Although I don't know if I'm ambitious or not, even in this definition. Sometimes everything seems to be pointless. Well, I would like to improve my skills and be a better artist, a little fame and richness is appealing to me. I dream about my own house. And I would like to be more pround of myself but I don't put many effort to anything. I hate work and learning proccess. So that's a conflict Maybe I'm just partly hedonist.

 

[Otenba]

I've never been sure what I wanted to do with my life and that's okay since I've known I don't meet others standards for my entire life. I just want to work out what makes me happy, and how to cope with typical life things, which is a hard enough thing to do.

At the end of the day, not everyone can be the best and most of the time, being competitive isn't fun - especially when egos are involved. It's also impossible to please everyone so I don't see the appeal of being famous or similar "people pleasing" roles. Even being rich doesn't appeal to me much either. Want enough to be confident that I, and others I care about, will be safe and well.

 

[tlc]

I have a lot of things I like to do, but only for myself.

I like to work on my old cars. I can do mechanical and electrical repairs, and I am good with a welder and can rebuild rusted out areas that would otherwise put cars in the junkyard. I've fixed friends' cars for free on occassion. People say I should do it for a living. No way.

One time I had a snowplow that I designed myself and put it on an old station wagon. It worked really well for myself. I used it for 7 or 8 years. People found it interesting, but no way I could have made money at plowing people out, or even wanted to open that door.

I like to play music, and have been playing bass since I was 15. When I was younger I wanted to be in a band, and played out occassionally in the 1990s. But anymore I'd rather just play at home for my own enjoyment. I don't have to be the best, or deal with the smoking/drinking/drugs that usually accompanies playing music (at least here).

Basically I do things for myself because it keeps them enjoyable, and my skill level is happily acceptable. Once I start doing things for others, there is always someone who can do it better who I can't live up to, especially since the internet got big. I'd rather not deal with that, or even more important, the liabilites that come with doing things for others.

 

[JDShredds]

Reading the responses here has me thinking, 'Wow... I've never been around a group of people I have more in common with."

 

[Misery]

There was a time when I wanted to be a professional game developer. Like, working at one of the big developers. Went to college for it and everything.

College was a waste of bloody time... learned pretty much nothing, wondered what the point was... and the degree was worthless in the end. Associates in computer science. Utterly useless for getting a job.

And then my living situation changed, and I didnt need to work anymore. Havent done so in many years.

Fast forward to today, and boy am I freaking glad I didnt end up going down that path that I'd originally wanted. The gaming industry is a hideous mess, and if I was working a full job in it, I'd have gone mad by now. It would have been *bad* on so many levels. On top of that, I'd grown more and more misanthropic over time, and I dont tolerate people very well now.

These days, I've zero ambitions at all.

 

[Bronzelincolns]

to put the new windshield wipers I just got off amazon on my vehicle.

 

[JDShredds]

to put the new windshield wipers I just got off amazon on my vehicle.

I love the simplicity of this.

 

[inkfingers]

Interesting post. I have goals- at least one. I want to be able to flash a 5.11 with ease by the end of the year (sorry for the rock climbing jargon- you can look it up if you care that badly). I am also going to build up my core and upper body strength to help me climb overhangs.

I also have some dreams, ambitions that are unrealistic, but could maybe come true: End abortion, become a world-famous artist, raise awareness about mental health and autism, become president of the US, change the world, etc. Big stuff. Some of it I'd like to do, some of it not so much, but I want to change the world for the better. I want to end the suffering and evil on this planet.
I want to do my best so that I will leave this world a better place. It probably sounds cheesy, but it's true.

 

[Sabrina]

I was feeling something like this today. A guy that I’m chatting with in Tinder, sent me a video of Charles Bukowski talking about the way he looked at life. He said, among other things, that he prefered to be dead than having to work from 8 to 6. That he prefered to starve, than doing something that he didn’t want to do, or not having time for writing.

I feel the same way, and I said so to the guy that sent me the video. I guess I lost him forever (if you think like an NT, who wouldn’t?) , but I felt like a big load had been downloaded when I said that.

It’s not that I don’t have goals, I want to edit and publish my second memoir book (even if I know that I won’t make any money out of it) and recently I realized that becoming a Freelance Copywriter would be a good fit for me. I don’t have the same “ambition” as everybody else, but I do have ambition.

I want a simple life, with lots of traveling (a job involving travel would actually motivate me, but I have two kids, and I don’t have anyone else to lean on regarding their care, so it's not an option for now). Do I ambition traveling so much that I would work super hard in order to earn money for it? No, I would travel to places close by, or in a cheap way (as I already do, since I live in Mexico).

Do I have a thirst for status and lots of money? No, I couldn’t care less. I care to have enough income for my two kids and I in order to live without luxuries, that’s all.

I literally DREAD having to work a normal job, I’ve always dreaded it, ever since I was a child. The formal office outfit? With heels and tight constraining jackets, and make up, nails and hair done every freaking day?! And phones ringing everywhere, having to answer phone calls, people around me everywhere, all day?! Non stop?
It sounds like hell to me, sorry.

It’s interesting how it is ok for a famous writer like Bukowski to say what he said, but it’s not OK if I say it.

The same guy I was chatting with, told me that he was looking for someone to fill a certain position, and that it could be a good fit for me. I am grateful for it and I said “thanks”. But the mere thought of having to focus my whole attention, eight hours a day or more, in something that I don’t give a freaking damn, seems like torture.

Today he posted in his FB wall a meme, and, with it, a forwarded comment that said “the person who doesn’t work, doesn’t do it because he/ she doesn’t want to”. Ok, dude, you got me, maybe I don’t want to work for money in a normal job. But I love working as a mom and as a writer (and, I hope, also as a copywriter in the future).

Does it make me irresponsible? I don’t think so. Right now, with the alimony that my ex gives me, we can survive.

You know who can’t survive if their mother starts working a regular job and she falls into a deep depression because of it, which makes her start a path of self destruction? My kids. That’s why my number one concern is my mental wellbeing. I’m aware that it’s not everybody’s case. I am able to choose because I have an income due to the alimony.

I understand the feeling of choosing to be dead than doing something that you don’t want to do, just as Bukowski did in his video. It’s not actually a matter of choosing to work or not to work, it’s choosing to slowly die while earning money, or live while starving. I feel I am truly alive when I write, hence, not having time to write feels like not being truly alive.

I don’t know what will happen if I can’t earn enough money to survive while being a copywriter, and/or if I stop receiving alimony. I guess that, if I have to support my kids, I will stuff myself with a bunch of antidepressant and will head to work. But if they are grown-ups, I truly don’t know what I would do. Will I end up stuffing shopping bags in Walmart? I don’t know and I truly don’t care.

 

[HidinginPlainSight]

I'd like to find an undamaged King Bolete with a cap over 30cm. I think that counts as an ambition.

 

[Kevin1968]

Like others here who can, I work to pay the bills. I do my best at work but really that's too avoid confrontation and because I consider it unfair to my employer to do less.

As regards looking for promotion etc. I would only want it so I could choose what jobs to delegate and what I would do myself. But the title wouldn't be important.

I guess I could have studied more etc., but when I am in a job I enjoy why bother. (Until I need another job of course)

I don't care that I don't live in a posh house, a bed is a bed. And a car is just a means of transport, as long as it's reliable it's fine.