Status Updates From What Do You Want Out of Lif...

Aging is an equal-opportunity cause of the need to reinterpret our values. ... I thought that when I was old, I would understand everything and coast happily through my dotage without enduring any more existential crises about what I was doing and what matters in life. It has become a bittersweet lesson to discover this is not how life works...'

None of us (even those of us who have a penchant for reflection) has a detailed set of well-defined values sitting around in our brains waiting to be discovered. Rather, we muddle through our life with a general sense of the things we care about and a vague idea of what it means to succeed.

'My own view about well-being is that it is best understood as the fulfillment of the values that fit our personalities and our circumstances. We do well when we succeed in terms of what matters to us, and when what matters to us suits our desires, emotions, and judgements.'

'Philosophy attracts and rewards people who have the virtues of fighters—people who are combative and quick on their feet. I'm not a fighter. ... My nice personality was not the best fit for a field that prizes holding your ground against aggressive intellectuals who often seem more interested in winning the point than exploring the issue.'