today, i came across a seemingly simple yet profoundly interesting question:

what does your ideal life look like?

everyone has their own perspective on an ideal life (myself included). we are, after all, self-indulgent and egotistic by nature. we all want things. and it’s obvious that those desires shift and are dependent on our own life experiences and current privileges.

after reading the question, my 21-year-old middle-class american self instantly pictured my ideal post-graduate life. i pictured a life without the issue of money (like college debt). i pictured a life where i can travel more and go places i had never been to before without having to worry about anything. i pictured a life where i can be around people who i can authentically express myself to. i pictured a life where i had the perfect career—one where i can be creative and exposed to many. i pictured a life with no pain and no hurt and one filled with only fairness and love (whatever love may be).

the more i pictured an “ideal life”, the more i realized i just wanted more and more and more—

but how selfish of me to want more when what i have is already more than enough?

i have the opportunity to be in school, yet i don’t want to be in debt for it. i have had the opportunity to travel, yet i want to travel more. i have had the opportunity to live in different places, yet i aspire to immerse myself in new communities. i have had the opportunity to meet genuine people and be surrounded by them (those of whom i call my friends), yet i look to find more. i have the opportunity to love and be cared for, yet i still want more of whatever this feeling is.

nothing is ever enough, and the more i ponder upon this question, the more i realize that an ideal life does not truly exist.

we can say we’re content with what we have. we can recognize the individual opportunities we’ve been faced with. we can say we’re happy. but the truth is: a part of us will always want more because we each carry our own hopes, dreams, and desires (whether spoken or unspoken).

perhaps for us to feel fulfilled, we must look to grow—because only in growth and change might we find contentment.

a poor man, invisible to the world, dreams of ruling his own kingdom—one filled with riches and more. but a prince in the public eye, born to rule a kingdom of his own, dreams to be free from the weight of the world.

-k.t.

august 2019