I didn't want to start this on a negative note but it's not a negative note really, it just involves impending death. While gardening my emails (deleting the old ones, saving the embedded links for the future) during my 1-hour wait for my 4th covid shot, I came across this article: I just learned I only have months to live. I just learned I only have months to live. This is what I want to say
I was forewarned about the touching words that awaited but was impressed nonetheless when he brought us into the details of his life, the details that defined the way that he saw the world, appreciated it, and approached life. He walked us through the moments that he told each of his children individually about his diagnosis and how they each reacted, both showing their character and as a result, his character.
Through that article, I felt like I understood the basics of his life — his interests, his closest circle, his daily goings. But I was surprised about how I felt the sense of family, commitment to and joy in his work, and satisfaction in the experiences he accumulated. Drawing from that, I gathered that he approached life in a unique way — as we all do — but he was able to convey it. I don't want to try and analyze it and pinpoint it because that's for the reader to interpret.
But it did spark me to think about what my approach to life is.
I've been asked this question many times this year: “so, how did you do it?" And often times, I'm stumped so I say something half-baked where I walk them through the steps I took or I take the lazy route and say ‘I just did it’ or I tell them a story about when I decided to do it. That moment of deciding is different from actually doing it, where the former is part of discovering your interests and identity and the latter is the actual action.
And I would argue that the events in my life are planned.
I don't believe that things just happen to you. I also don't believe in ‘wishing’ for things. One of my biggest realizations is that when people say “I wish I did that," they often mean “I want to do that, but I haven't taken action yet." And to that, my counter question is “why wish when you can just do?" And when you can't do at that moment, that's when the plan comes in.
I've won two ski trips in my life which is an oddly high stroke of luck, but I'm not bewildered by it — I attribute it partly to the experiences that I signed up for and the people in my life that share my interests that put my in the perfect position. It's like how you're rarely automatically entered into anything! To win the lottery, you must buy a lottery ticket. To win a contest, you must give the corporation your e-mail address and initial permission for them to send you spam.
And for the things that are more complex and less based on luck, all you need is a plan. Retracing the steps that others have taken to get to where you want to be, to see what paths you can take. Life's a mystery until you uncover it.
So if you want to be a snowboard instructor in Japan, it's easy — get the right certifications, apply the summer ahead, acquire a work visa, fly to Japan. As simple of a plan as that.
And here, I present to you:
mantras on how I approach life [wip]
The key to ambition is not dreams, but plans.
Joy is the north star
Everything is worth applying for
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