Life, as it happens
August 20th, 2024
I am grateful to be able to experience life as it happens.
I live next to an elementary and middle school and walk past it on my way to work every morning. It’s the middle of August, and today happened to be the first day of school. I was walking a bit later than I normally do, and passed by some families dropping off their kids. I heard a mother say “First last day of school!” and her daughter, shruggingly, but lovingly, reply “You mean the last first day of school.” You could tell that she was feeling a bit nostalgic as she was looking down, shaking her head, and softly smiling. It was a mix of “Omg mom” and “Wow, this really is my last first day of school…”
I don’t know these people and likely will never see them again, but I was there for that moment in their lives. They almost certainly don’t remember seeing me, yet watching this moment has left an impression on me and has inspired reflection on my own life. These moments are gifts in which the giver doesn’t know they’re giving anything at all. They’re simply living their lives, yet mine is better for it. That’s a beautiful thing, and one that is not often talked about: the idea that we can make each other’s lives better simply by living our own.
I happened to have a similar experience yesterday (these don’t happen that often, I promise!) while chatting with a fellow startup founder. He’s a younger guy, probably a couple younger than me, and is a solo founder working on software to create trend videos for TikTok using AI. He’s extremely excited about what he’s working on, but is navigating through the haze of early product development. He feels like he’s onto something, but isn’t sure exactly how to get there. But his excitement and ambition reminded me that I too am chasing a dream. By simply chasing his, he supported me in continuing to chase mine.
I suspect that these moments are actually happening around me often, but I’m simply not paying attention. None of us are. We have our Airpods in, listening to Jason Calcanis and David Sacks opine on foreign policy. We have a deep, vivid, and nuanced world existing around us all of the time. Life is happening all around us, yet we fail to acknowledge its presence.
We watch films that take us to another time and place, and wonder what it would be like if that was the world we lived in. But our world is infinitely deep, if we pay attention and give ourselves time to think. To have an open heart, open mind, and more literally, open ears. The world’s audio has so much more to offer than listening to “Happiness” by The 1975 for the 9th time this week. Every moment is unique, and nobody outside of that moment will get to experience it, ever.
In many ways our lives are deeply similar (a topic for another time) but they are also undeniably ours. I’m lucky to have been born into a place where I can really live my life, which unfortunately can’t be said for everybody.
To those that have ever touched my life, thank you. You are both innumerable and unaware, but that’s precisely how you’ve impacted me.