It is common for people to cry when talking about work. Often they apologize to me for that.
I also often talk to people for whom things are going well. They have options, and want to get clear on which ones to pursue, and which to forego. What’s peculiar is that they, too, apologize to me. It’s as though they think once they have good choices, everything should be easy or self-evident. Like talking about which door to choose is selfish. “I mean, I’m so lucky even to be thinking about this….”
But having choices, even good ones, demands something of us. If we don’t want to waste the luck, hard work, and privilege that led to the choices, it’s worth some time evaluating just what we’re after.
I’ve been mulling over the definition of wealth as “the capability of achieving the kind of life we have reason to value.” Sometimes we focus on the capability, and a lot of time we focus on the achieving. But the “we have reason to value” part is worth some brainpower. As I get older and possibly wiser, the things I have reason to value are different than they used to be. Creating space for that inquiry isn’t something any of us need to apologize for.
