Don't be a Buridan's ass in your 30's

When you are in your 30’s you try to pursue many different directions at once, but not making any progress in any one of them. It has happened with me as well — though I must admit, this has been a problem in me since my teens.

Pursuing different things at the same time gets you frustrated that the world wants you to pick one thing because they want to do them all. It’s a simple question of “Why do I have to choose, when I can have it all — especially when I don’t know what to choose!”

The problem is that you are thinking short term, but due to the unrealistic pressure you put on yourself — you don’t do it the entire week, and then you don’t do it at all.

It’s the classic problem, described in simple terms, in the fable “Buridan’s ass”, written by Aristotle. The fable is about a donkey who is standing halfway between a pile of hay and a bucket of water. He just keeps looking left to the hay, and right to the water, trying to decide. Hay or water, hay or water? He’s unable to decide, so he eventually falls and dies both of hunger and thirst.

The solution is simple — think long term. The donkey can very well drink water first and then go to the hay. Similarly, we can one thing for a few years, and then another. A donkey can’t think of the future. We can.

So if you are in your 30’s, don’t be a donkey. You can do everything you want to do. You just need foresight and patience