David Ojeda All posts

Find your enough

· Reading time: 2 min

Enough is a moving target for most people. The closest you are to reaching enough, the farther away it will move when you achieve it.

It's both part of our nature and part of our culture as human beings.

Nature

Not so long ago, it was feast or famine. We are wired to survive, as so is every other living creature on this planet. And we've translated that behavior to other aspects of our lives.

Survival instincts are something we won't get rid of in our lifetime. They influence our behavior and our decisions almost every single time.

Most privileged people still eat until they can eat no more. We drink until we blackout (I still do, from time to time). We always want more because we humans have always wanted more.

It's an instinct no one of us will ever eliminate—we can only control it.

Culture

Money. Do I need to say more?

People steal for money. People kill for money. People do the unspeakable for money. And it has always been this way. Not for money specifically, but for any other resource that your counterpart had, and you didn't.

You might say that it happens because they need the money to survive. And in some situations that might be true. But in many others, it's just because we're surrounded by cues saying that we need to want for more. Always more.

More is better. The more the merrier.

Most of our environment usually pushes us to have and want more of whatever we are having; be it the news, our family, friends and acquaintances, our job, or our school. But very few tell us to have more, until we've had enough.

Find your enough

My enough is not your enough. My circumstances and goals are not yours.

No one can tell you what enough should be for you—as you're the only one capable of finding it.

I'm still looking for it. I have a good perspective of what enough looks like for some parts of my life and, for others, I don't quite know yet. But it's always on my mind.