“That was the loneliest day of my life,” said the songwriter. No, it wasn’t because his wife left him or his dog died. It was because he wrote a song that just made it to #1 on the Billboard Country Chart, and this is a true story. How could he be lonely, you ask? It’s because he had been looking forward so much to that day that when it finally came he didn’t know what to do next.
You know what comes after the next step? The next step.
Keep writing,
Ben
Oh man. This makes me think of the education system. Kids slog their way through tertiary study, and as soon as they graduate and have their schedule, exams, and stable increments of success taken away, they're lost. Schooling fosters this aspiration culture--if you're not aspiring, you're floundering, or so we're taught.
ReplyDeleteSeems like your songwriter hit a similar goal-ceiling. Wouldn't it be better if we didn't assign end points to goals? "To be good at what I do," or "To be content in what I do." Admirable aspirations, both.
I like that your walking metaphor doesn't indicate direction, too. Walk uphill or down, left or right--wherever. "To do something."