How It Feels to Get Everything You’ve Ever Wanted
I wanted success, money, and a bit of fame. I got it all. Now what?
There are two tragedies in life, Oscar Wilde once wrote: not getting what you want and getting everything you want. The latter is much worse.
I wanted to be a writer. I don’t know when that dream started, but for a very long time, I craved accomplishment in this pursuit that very few are lucky enough to make a living from, let alone find success in.
I also fantasized about what it would be like to have money, lots of it. And while I was at it, I thought it’d be cool to be a little famous, too. To be connected with or have influence over important people, to be sought after for advice or input. That had to be awesome, right?
Maybe, apart from my genuine love of writing, that’s what attracted me to being an author. It was a way to have all those things. And indeed, in the last year or so, I have actually accomplished most of them.
My books have sold extremely well. They’ve been reviewed in major newspapers and translated into dozens of languages. Looking at my bank account here, I am relieved to say that I don’t really need to think about money anymore. And if that weren’t lucky enough, I regularly get invited to speak with all sorts of interesting…
