Having it all

I spend a lot of my time imagining the ideal state of things in my life–the ideal work schedule, diet, exercise plan, room layout, web browser settings, etc. Most everything in my life goes under this scrutiny on a regular basis. Such is the life of [the Individualist](http://www.lessons4living.com/enneagram4.htm)…

In all these things, I am influenced by the examples I see in people around me–most notably, the ones in the media. The real people showcased on TV and the internet live fascinating lives, full of adventures and changes. They always seem to be exploring the extremes and ideals of every situation–every time I imagine an ideal, I can find someone already living it. The person on tv seem to truly do it all and have it all.

Of course, “the person on tv” is an aggregated example, made from pieces of individual sports stars, entertainers, artists, politicians, religious leaders, business titans, and more. Besides seeing only the newsworthy achievements in their areas of expertise, we don’t get to see how they live the other parts of their lives. “The person on tv” is made from only the best, most extreme parts, of all these people–the VO2 max of Lance Armstrong, the voice of Christina Aguilera, the artistry of Pablo Picasso, the theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, etc, ad infinitum.

Yet because my mind stitches together this Frankensteinian ideal, I’m tempted to believe that I can have it all–I can imagine a “life” that does. With an infinite amount of time and an infinite amount of money, one could conceivably live out the ideals for every facet of life.

But I don’t think I’d want to. After all, I’d always prefer some things to others, and choose to continue doing those rather than switch to something less interesting. I notice this even in the basics of life–while I’d be somewhat interested in exploring what a truly clean house would look like, I’d rather explore what a truly exciting bike ride would feel like, every time.

Choosing some things, and excluding others, isn’t a cop-out, or a compromise. It’s the only possible way to live. And the more I am able to simplify and reduce the number of things I idealize, the more I enjoy the ones I do, and it makes the idealization more of an opportunity than a burden. We can’t have it all–no one can. But we can change how we experience the things we have, especially when we first choose the things we really want.