Is this as good as it gets? Yes and no. Every major goal I’ve ever accomplished has been anticlimactic at the time. My educational goals have been met amongst personal illness, a national recession, and a global pandemic. I doubt there will be an actual zombie apocalypse when I graduate with my doctorate, but I’m still going to be prepared. I finished a marathon in the last decade with no fanfare; it was accompanied only by an emotional breakdown when I wasn’t able to find my car in the parking garage afterward. Even minor goals have seemed irrelevant at the time: finishing a painting, buying a new car, self-publishing four poetry books. In themselves, these things account for nothing. My hopes of feeling complete with each task I complete amount to nothing. Still, I’m tempted to think that as soon as I…once I…when I…then I…nope…not going to happen. Get over yourself, Chris. Where I am right now is as good as life gets, and there is room for improvement.