Careful Wishing

As a kid, I always thought “Be careful what you wish for; you might just get it” was a confusing maxim. Why wouldn’t I want to get what I wished for? As an adult, of course, I’ve begun to understand. Put at its simplest, the proverb simply means that our ability to understand our desire is outmatched by the passion of the desire itself. What we so desperately crave now may be the very worst thing for us in the long run.