Go Ahead, Squander Your Potential - by Michelle Jia

There’s a troublesome idea that’s been floating around in my writing network lately, and the idea is this: crushes are just misplaced ambition. As Isabel of Mind Mine writes: The feeling we get around a crush, or when a crush is starting to form, is actually quite similar to the feeling we get when we define a new goal or set a new aim that really excites us. Like signing up for a marathon, or trying to get into medical school […] These crushes just represent something I want to see more of within myself. In my experience, there is some truth to this idea — sometimes, a desire to be with someone is simply a misplaced desire to be someone. And in a pinch it can be helpful, even enlightening to go trawling for the roots of one’s own desire — particularly when such an expedition reveals the convenient fact that what one wanted all along was in fact achievable with cold, hard self-discipline. (Thought you wanted someone who would never love you back? Psych! You just wanted a PhD.) But does

There’s a troublesome idea that’s been floating around in my writing network lately, and the idea is this: crushes are just misplaced ambition. As Isabel of Mind Mine writes: The feeling we get around a crush, or when a crush is starting to form, is actually quite similar to the feeling we get when we define a new goal or set a new aim that really excites us. Like signing up for a marathon, or trying to get into medical school […] These crushes just represent something I want to see more of within myself. In my experience, there is some truth to this idea — sometimes, a desire to be with someo