Striving for Greatness? Or living in the moment?

I've lived my life on high ambition. In school it was about getting the highest marks, or winning the competitions I enrolled in. Slowly it turned to having a great career, becoming the best person I could be etc. But recently, I've been disillusioned by this approach.

Don't get me wrong. Greatness is... great. It's inspiring. It's pursuit empowers and emboldens you to achieve the impossible. But its issue is with that verb. Achieve.

We end up making our lives about achievement, and not experience. Tasks to be fulfilled, goals to be attained, bucket lists and check lists to be ticked off. This becomes the fundamental perspective from which we view the world and thus alters every action we take.

We thus tend to travel to 10 different tourist spots in one city rather than fully enjoying one, to avoid missing out. We compile lists of books to be read and then raze through them, rather than fully appreciating each book, each page, each line. Movies, music, TV shows - all become stuff you should binge and forget rather than being fully immersed.

We need to learn to be fully immersed in life. To live in each moment, experiencing it as a moment disconnected from our conception of everything else. (this means experiencing the moment without subjecting it to our thoughts, concepts, beliefs - turning off our internal chatter).

This I believe is the fundamental truth to life. Some call it mindfulness. Other call it Carpe Diem - seizing the day. Or as my favourite author puts it, Journey Before Destination.