How do you want to improve? To what should we aspire? If you don’t know where you want to go, it can be very difficult to get there.
We can hope and work to get better. That may mean personal improvement. It may mean local or community goals. Or even international or global ideals that we as a species hope to attain.
What do you, as an individual, aspire to? How will that be accomplished?
Related questions: Is happiness the most important purpose in life? How do you define success? What is important? How do you set priorities?
Work on the life-long project of becoming your best self. Who do you want to be? What values or words do you want others to use as they tell others about who you are? How do you want to be remembered?
Take the time to seriously answer these questions. Be honest about what it will take to become that best you. Figure out if the goal(s) is/are still worth the work you must put in to get there. If you still want it, come up with regular practices and habits that will help you get there.
If you must make some adjustments and/or change your expectations, that’s okay. But after those adjustments / expectations are tweaked, again, figure out the regular work it will take to get closer to the you you want to be.
If chosen honestly, you will should find joy in your personal efforts toward progress.
Now, getting personal, I want to be:
– a supportive and loving spouse to Rebecca
– an advocate who employs funky tactics and cheerleads others on as we work toward social justice
– an heirloom gardener who inspires others to give it a try themselves
– a healthy person (or, at least, the healthiest I can be) … this includes physical and mental health
– an actively hopeful person
Michael, I like the question and your answers. Maybe it’s because its late in the day but this seems like a lot of work to me. I’m reminded of the Grantland Rice quote in my Grandpa Pierce’s room: “For when the One Great Scorer comes to write against your name, he writes not that you won or lost but how you played the game.” Rice’s theology is old-fashioned – God isn’t a score-keeper in my opinion, but my point is it’s not how hard you worked, or how much you accomplished, but how much you loved others, especially the least among us.
I’m just a very introspective guy. I do a lot of work to figure out my best self. Your way (i.e. Rice’s way) sounds good to me too.
More thoughts on this question: We can achieve more when we work with others. My faith community is working for justice in affordable housing, immigration, and the environment. Right now I’m calling on my representatives in Congress to end the inhumane treatment of refugees seeking asylum on our Southern Border. Yesterday I was able to talk to Rep. Dean Phillips in person at the Minnesota State Fair. I gave him an earful!! 🙂