I am ambitious to feel content. I don't expect happiness every day, but I am ambitious to feel a sense of

equanimity in my life. You can't find when your life is out of balance. And I am ambitious to invest in

friendship, which is something I've really lacked for the majority of my life. And it is so important, especially as you get older,

right? And just being a good person, how do I show up every day? Those are things you need

space and time to think about. We don't just come out being good people who know how to like

manage ourselves in the world. And many of our childhoods don't just come out being good people who know how to like manage ourselves in the world.

And many of our childhoods don't help with that, right?

So it takes work and it takes effort.

And that's something to be ambitious for.

Being a subperson who means something in other people's lives, all of those things.

That's how I calculate if I'm a

success now. So ambition is this loaded word. It's often associated with this relentless drive

to succeed, trampling over others as you scrap your way to the top, ignoring your well-being,

your relationships, any sense of groundedness or meaning or peace or joy along the way. It's what helps

you achieve, quote, success, we're told. But what if that was not only wrong, but it also

kept you from the work, the relationships, the health, the life, a different kind of success

that you didn't just want, but that was actually

worth wanting, that would make you feel the way you want to feel. Well, today's guest, Jan Romalini,

shares her deeply personal journey, rising to the very top of the New York media world,

up in the C-suite, then untangling from that toxic

drive and letting go of an ambition that didn't align with who she was, her core values, her

aspirations, to reclaim something deeper and better. Jen is the author of the raw and emotional

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