Too much potential

It's isn't enough that I have a good job, good friends, and good health.

I must live up to my potential. 

I got good grades in school, so I had the potential to make a lot of money as a doctor or a lawyer, regardless of my disinclination to be either.

My hobby is stained glass art.  I have the potential to be a great artist.  But not the dedication, or the marketing inclination, to do so. 

I wrote the quiz book advertised on the right.  It had the potential to be a good seller.  I had the potential to become a professional writer.  Dedication, marketing, and temperament mitigated this potential.

But *having* potential can be a burden.  There is a sense that every book read for pleasure, every game of solitaire or Angry Birds, is a waste of ones potential.  I should be doing something useful, something to further my potential. 

This guilt is something I have been fighting, only partially successfully, for many years.  But the horoscope I got recently helps. 

Sometimes it’s OK to stop striving to live up to your potential.  What if you simply stayed put? 

I like where I am in my life.  And if that means I don't become a famous artist or a renowned writer, I am, mostly, okay with it. 

I have the potential to be happy.  .