You Are Not the Sun

The next few weeks are going to be decisive for the risks I have to take, and the decisions and responsibilities I need to carry. I can’t get distracted right now. And I can’t set aside the things I already do.

I think that’s an important part of risk. You have to take the risks, but you don’t always have to burn all the boats. Maybe burning the boats is very good for you, but not for the whole of you, not for everything around you. Maybe it isn’t good for everything you orbit.

This matters: knowing that things don’t orbit around you, you orbit around things. You’re not the sun. You orbit it. Things are important to you, not you important to things.

That thought came to me after Flora was born. For the first time I understood: I have a sun to orbit. I’m not my own sun. And that’s liberating. It doesn’t come out of nowhere. You need something that makes you understand it. But when it happens, you’ll understand.

Orbiting is much better than being orbited. Having something that matters a lot to you is better than being important to yourself. It’s the easiest way to have a purpose for something.