There is this amazing hidden-gem of a lyric in one of the tracks on the sister/singer duo, "First Aid Kit’s" most recent album "Stay Gold:"“I’d rather be striving than settled.” And lately, this is exactly the mentality I have adapted.
When you’re striving, you are pursuing a dream or an aspiration. Striving is goal-oriented, a wing and a prayer. It’s a shot in the dark that you might get what you want, placing your trust in mere potential, and hoping that it will pan out. It is also knowing that nothing is guaranteed, that life is a treasure hunt for happiness. Striving is enjoying the ride.
Alternately, when you are settled, you are comfortable. While comfort can be desirable, it can also be damaging long term when you realize all the potential you stored up and nothing ever resulted from it. Comfortable doesn’t make you a better person or a person that knows how to go with the flow or someone that is adaptable. Settled grows boring after very little time. Settled is enjoying the destination, but not experiencing the adventures the ride offered, and suffering as a result of that.
There is so much pressure to arrive at your destination all the time that people fail to recognize the inherit value of the ride itself, while you are still striving and not yet settled. While everything is still possible and anything can happen.
Instead of seeking to be settled, let’s strive to just enjoy the ride for now.
