“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.” — Seneca
There’s a scene in Fight Club where Edward Norton’s character flips through an IKEA catalogue, imagining his perfect apartment. “What kind of dining set defines me as a person?” he asks. It’s funny. But also uncomfortably familiar.
That was me. For years, I lived in pursuit of more. More clients. More income. More recognition. More apps. More upgrades.
I thought success was something you reached by constantly levelling up. If I wasn’t chasing the next thing, was I even growing?
It took a stroke to stop me in my tracks.
The Wake-Up Call
In 2023, I spent seven months in hospital recovering from a stroke. A week before it happened, I was trying to cram more projects into my already full schedule. A month later, I couldn’t even stand without help.
When you’re forced to stare at the ceiling for most of the day, your perspective shifts.
I stopped thinking about ambition, and started thinking about sustainability. I’d been measuring success by quantity — revenue, followers, productivity hours — but none of those things helped me recover, or feel more human.
