21st Century Living

As Matthew Good said, ambition's a tricky thing. It's like riding a unicycle on a dental floss tightrope over a wilderness of razor blades.

I was thinking about people's ambitions today as I passed by the University of Ottawa, looking at all those keen, fresh faces, hoping to make their mark in society. I thought about some of my old college friends, and what their ambitions were. My friend Jon was one of those guys who knew exactly what he wanted, and he was driven to get there in the shortest time possible. From what I've seen so far, he's accomplished that and then some. Family, money, traveling the world. It looks great, that's his ambition.

Me? Well, I'm about a week away from 38, and it feels like I'm on the edge of a great frontier. I feel like my life is finally STARTING, that everything I have done to this point was to prepare myself for what lay ahead, albeit a little slower than the vast majority it seems. I am happy to say that, finally, I am investing in a 'career' as opposed to a job, I am about five short weeks away from becoming a father for the second time, I have an incredibly loving and understanding wife, which by default, translates into a very happy marriage, and we're in the process selling our house for one that we can hopefully stay in for a long time and build those precious family memories that last a lifetime.

I've always been a big kid at heart, and that's not going to change anytime soon, but I've also reached a certain 'mental maturity', an understanding of what I want from life, what I have to offer, and what I'm willing to do, give, sacrifice. I realize that I work to live, not live to work. I love my job, but when presented with a possibility for quick advancement and opportunity, I now consider how much family time I will have to sacrifice, and right now, the little time I do have for my family and myself is worth more than gold.

So, as I looked at the university students on a fairly nice spring morning, I thought about ambition, about Matt Good's quote, and I thought about my own ambition. It is a tricky thing. We all walk that dental floss tightrope everyday. Knowing what's on the other side, realizing what is within reach, is what prevents us from falling.