So being an ambitious person, I’ve always been one for pushing harder, for wanting to achieve more, for wanting the bigger and brighter things in life, and going above and beyond, certainly in my working life to get what I know I’m capable of.  How age changes things.

Some say a person’s life without an ambition is like a bird without its wings.  Apparently, wings, or ambition in this case, are very much required as it gives you strength to steer in life and also to get us focused towards our destination. Your ambition gives you height and provides you with enough thrust to move ahead in life, it provides you an objective in life and more importantly it completes you.

Many people travel through life without fulfilling or finding ambition and it’s said that when they do this, or don’t, it creates a hole within them that cannot be filled, and can bring on various degrees of life unsatisfaction and unhappiness.   This may not apply to everyone, some will aimlessly drift through life without direction and this is perfectly fine, however it’s debated as to whether these people are living, in the sense that they haven’t found or become dedicated to any true purpose, and/or passion.

All this may be accurate, and proven, but what I believe myself to be true is that your ambitions alter with your age.  When you’re young, you dream of being a princess living in a castle, then you want to be a Doctor or a Politician earning lots of money and changing the world, then university hits and you strive to nail that assignment and get an amazing job at the end of it, then children arrive and your ambition is merely getting through the day alive.  I was there too, I remember all those stages but for me now, at the age I am, I have just one main ambition in life – to live.

The definition of ambition reads as ‘A strong desire to do or achieve something’, so I choose living.  I have a strong desire to be around for a long time yet, to enjoy every minute with my kids and eventually theirs too, to see more and experience more of the world, to learn more always, and to continue to lead a healthy lifestyle for the remainder of my time, helping to make all of the above happen.

I am past the want for materialistic items, fancy cars, and constantly more pay.  We have a lovely home, a car that suits our family needs, food on the table, summer holidays and clothes on our backs, and yes, of course I’ll buy what I need when I need to but the days of conspicuous consumption are long gone.  Work hard, yes, get settled in life, yes, but once you’re at that point when you have it all, or at least when you have enough, when you’re comfortable, when you’re happy, then just relax and enjoy it.

Being financially secure is of course important but as far as ambition goes, mine is to just live, live slow, nothing more, nothing less.  To surround myself with those I love, soak it all up, be grateful for what I have, and to remember and enjoy every second of this ride.