Usehername
On a mission
- Joined
- May 30, 2007
- Messages
- 3,794
yeah- I'm not particularly disturbed by my lack of ambition- it lets me relax in ways that my more ambitious friends never really get. I don't want to be rich, just comfortable, and if I'm happy with my life and lifestyle I don't see why it's anyone else's business whether I'm "using my full potential" or not
If I have enough money to travel and survive and I can retire when I'm old enough, I'm set!
I just don't get the idea that a person should feel committed to using thier full potential... I don't feel that I owe society MY happiness and peace of mind!
Does a person owe the full use of thier skills to society?![]()
I've always imagined it as two vectors fighting against each other... the first, being all the things I have going for me (natural skills, developed skills, the time and energy that individuals, teachers, relatives and others poured into me because they thought I was worth it and perhaps I could do something with it) against the self-preservational needs that i have (physical health, mental and emotional energy to give to my loved ones and people that cross my path sufficient enough that I can still treat them with love and dignity and not cut them down because I've poured out too much of myself, time to indulge my Ni enough that I'm a spiritually/emotionally/mentally healthy soul, time for pleasure so that i can actually enjoy my life's moments).
I've found when I let one vector win (I give of myself beyond what I can handle to keep myself healthy and treat those around me with love and dignity, or, (more likely) I indulge my self-preservational needs to the point that they become wants, and those wants are indulged to the point where I simply put in time for everything else that doesn't indulge my wants.
Both of those places don't sit well with my insides, when I listen to my soul. I believe there's room to move between the two vectors, but when they get to the "Hazard" zone of either end, I feel depressed with my choices.
Give yourself a challenge, oh mighty NT one. You don't need to sweat blood over your job or career, there's nothing wrong with a 9-5er that lets you focus on personal goals, but aiming low might depress you later on in life when you're all settled.
You can also do this by picking a less-challenging-but-still-a-challenge career and then looking for places to pour your heart and soul into outside of work (volunteering, mentoring, training for sports, etc.)