Having "ambition" in life

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I tried to be ambitious.

Typical milestones and conventional definitions of success doesn't seem to entertain my thought.

Sure, there's societal expectations of being good at something, along with conveniences and security of attaining the wealth of the rich with a social status...


But what truly entices me as an ambition is freedom.
Something beyond the bubble that is human society and the world as most people know it.

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I never had what are considered ambitions either. I just try to remove as much unpleasantness from my life as I can. I just want to stay healthy and be able to always look after myself. My nightmare is not being able to look after myself one day, for example in old age.

Very early, I noticed that I could stay out of trouble by following the Golden Rule, so I made that a life principle. I'm helpful when I'm in a good position to be, and not too guilty about accepting help when I need it. Next, I wanted to develop my unique talents, and make them relevant to these very extraordinary decades we are having. I think I did pretty well at the self-education on the technical side, but still got blind-sided by social factors. Now, I'm trying to warn others about the hidden hazards.

Living free was one of mine (along with independence). Another was facing certain things without fear if they arose. My ambitions were mostly aberrant: I have zero care about wealth, status, objects and so on. They tended to be things that I wanted to overcome myself, rather than "gaining". They were all personal trials that are important to me (outside of one).

I guess when I was young it was obvious I was not making eye contact. My parents told me it was polite to look at people when I was talking with them.

So, I look at the person I'm talking to, though not into their eyes. I was a natural for social distancing decades before the Pandemic showed up. Eye contact has...to my knowledge...only been an issue a few times for me.

My theory is that it's hard to see where my gaze is exactly aimed if the other person isn't too near.

(jimmy m's glasses sound interesting, but I'm not too sure I want people coming up to me out of the blue and starting a conversation. It happens sometimes but I don't think I need much of that in my life—I like social distancing!)

I think it's usually OK to be ambitious as such, but I don't see it as a mark of superiority. Like most traits, it has good and bad sides.

In a way it's unavoidable - the moment you want something and decide to try and get it, you have ambition. It would be a rare person who didn't want anything, though if they're already happy with what they have, that's great. It's only a sad thing when somebody strongly wants something that's attainable, something that would truly make them happier, but they never try for it. I guess that's a good definition of depression, low confidence, or learned powerlessness.

I'm not much geared up to the "standard" ambitions that it seems a great swathe of the human race thinks we should all go for - flashy cars, trophy wives, high-status jobs, prestigious housing, membership of an exclusive golf club, and of course ridiculous amounts of money and needlessly expensive possessions. I disapprove of people aspiring to such things because accumulating the produce of all that labour has to divert that labour away from supplying other people with the ordinary things they need to enjoy reasonably happy lives. Wealth seems to be addictive - the more you get, the more you want. And in most cases the ambition is doomed to failure and the only thing that's achieved is to help perpetuate a social system and ideology that puts pressure on people to follow it and makes so many people think it's such a great idea.

My own ambitions were born (I think) of inner needs and desires - a good relationship, a few good friends, making a few people happy, collective working, the skill to write, perform and record good music, a lifestyle that gives me comfort and pleasure to live, good physical and economic health, a supply of interesting things to do, acquiring new abilities, freedom from guilt feelings abut having harmed anybody. I think that covers most of it. I've achieved those things to a degree, which is all I can reasonably expect. Unfortunately old age and death will eventually send most of those blessings into reverse.

It's funny. I have a wife (20 years), several kids, own house, etc. But I'm unfulfilled and depressed. I've meditated on why and conclude it's because I don't have power and autonomy.

I have the ambition itch. Every day I feel the desire to do, to achieve, to have a job or career. But I only leave the house to attend to volunteer obligations. At home I attend to family obligations. The only me thing is an hour of martial arts once a week.

I want a career, but I'm middle aged in a small town (1500), surrounded by smaller towns.

I have an ambition itch that'll never scratched, while my life stagnates.

all things equal, it is better to be ambitious (as long as your goals are positive, and you succeed at your goals), than to not be ambitious.

however, ambition is not a moral value.
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just last week, a passenger (not me) on the bus told the driver that he had a gun. the driver told the passenger that he could have tattled to 911 for "terrorist threats" and "you need to apologize". the passenger said "i apologize, people". a passenger (also not me) said "we forgive you."

diseases, disability, natural disaster, violence, mass shootings, plenty of unexpected events occur that sometimes end someone's lives when they are still young.

as a result, no matter their effort or efficiency, they do not get a chance to reach their goals, because they are dead.

where i live and work, there is a homeless encampment and a car park where professionals steal cars and sell their pieces. off leash dogs. suspicious looking characters. on the way from the public transportation to work, sometimes i am afraid of getting raped or run over by a car.

that does not mean that it is wrong or bad to have ambition or work toward some goals.

on the other hand, sitting around accomplishing nothing is also not justified.

i take a middle road.



whatever goals you want to set, hard or easy or none, is up to you.

my addlements got in the way of my ambition, which was originally to get involved in some kind of broadcasting. the elements just didn't line up and i didn't have the horatio alger unstoppable gumption that is needed to succeed in this country. so i guess the only ambition i ever had that actually came true, was to leave behind the rat race.

Yeah I guess maybe I do have ambition in some sense, like many of you do to just live ok and live peaceful and more simple. I too do not desire the typical ambitions that most have (climbing the corporate ladder, huge house, things like that). I just want to have some good people around me and not be treated like garbage, and have a decent place to live and ability to pursue my little interests I get into.

^^^so did you succeed at all that?