On life and problems
Apr. 19th, 2026 08:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
posicScott D. Clary writes in Facebook -- https://www.facebook.com/scottdclarypage/posts/pfbid0F5fN27AA4aWyStwyShSJ61Y3j4iSU3kS9SDThE4wUnSvZQJBS23M2nbHj9yAFA7Yl :
The problems you're dealing with are mostly the right problems for the life you built. That's the uncomfortable part. If you want different problems, you have to build a different life. The problems track the structure.
***
I was never interested in building a life. I wanted to build my contribution to mathematics, and so I did. All I wanted from life was the ability to continue doing the kind of original, substantial creative work that I always wanted to do. That ability was what I fought for, tooth and nail, and almost always had as the result, and still have. The uncomfortable part is that the life built accidentally as a byproduct of striving to make a creative contribution has some downsides to it.
The problems you're dealing with are mostly the right problems for the life you built. That's the uncomfortable part. If you want different problems, you have to build a different life. The problems track the structure.
***
I was never interested in building a life. I wanted to build my contribution to mathematics, and so I did. All I wanted from life was the ability to continue doing the kind of original, substantial creative work that I always wanted to do. That ability was what I fought for, tooth and nail, and almost always had as the result, and still have. The uncomfortable part is that the life built accidentally as a byproduct of striving to make a creative contribution has some downsides to it.
