Member-only story
Why Were You Put On This Earth?
Your very existence is a statistical improbability — don’t waste it
I had coffee with a friend at work today. There’s nothing particularly out of the ordinary about that. We caught up, discussed weekend plans, moaned about work, etc. All of the usual stuff that coworkers talk about.
And then following a brief moment of silence, I asked her a question I’d never asked before.
‘What would you do if you didn’t work here?’
I wasn’t expecting an immediate response, but I got one:
‘I’d open my own coffee shop.’
Not a flicker of doubt or uncertainty crossed her face as she said it. Since then, I’ve asked some other people the same question. Each one gave me a different answer. But what every answer had in common was that they were given with absolute conviction.
It got me thinking. We’re taught from an early age that a successful life is one where you go to school in order to get good grades so that you can get a good job and earn a good salary. Then you get to work forty hours a week for the next forty years to allow you to pay the mortgage on the house you never get to spend time in because you’re spending most of your time at work.
