To make oneself an object, to make oneself passive, is a very different thing from being a passive object.

The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.

事情在最得意时要防乐极生悲，话说到最忘形时要防言中有失。

There are other reasons --There are other reasons why it's perhaps harder now to feel calm than ever before. One of these, and it's paradoxical, because it's linked to something that's rather nice, is the hope we all have for our careers. Never before have expectations been so high about what human beings can achieve with their life span.