“How do you recognize what is your true dream and what is the dream that you are dreaming for other people to love you? If you enjoy the process, it’s your dream. If you are enduring the process, just desparate for the result, it’s somebody else’s dream.” - Salma Hayek

Hmm. Did she hit the screamingly-obvious nail on the head with this one? I’m not sure.

The big problem with this is the fact that if I focused exclusively at the things I do wherein I really enjoy the process, I’d be living in an efficiency apartment for the next five years, minimum — which is fine for me, but not something I can accept for those I am responsible for in my life. I don’t think of it as ‘things I do to make others love me’ — it’s more accurate to say it’s the things I do for those I love. Sacrifices.

Could I be happy living in a smaller space with a lot less stuff doing exactly (and only) the things I enjoy doing? Sure. But it would be a completely different life than the one I’m living now, and that’s not something I’m willing to give up, because I love this particular life.