Searching for meaning and purpose
It was 1am and we were playing Playstation, drinking beers and cracking wise.
When my buddy turned to me and said “how do I know I wasn’t supposed to be a world champion snooker player?’.
I paused the game and sat in silence for a few seconds deciding whether to ignore this obvious drunken nonsense and go to bed, or commit to the next 90 minutes debating whatever this question was about to manifest into.
‘Wtf are you on about?’
For context, my pal had never even picked up a snooker cue.
‘How do I know I wasn’t supposed to be a world champion snooker player?’
He repeated the question at me like I was the one who was stupid.
‘Well, you don’t play snooker for a start, have you even picked up a cue before!?’.
‘EXACTLY...’
Still not following and slightly regretting my decision not to escort myself to bed, I gave him one last chance.
‘If you’ve never picked up a snooker cue, in what parallel universe would you be a world champion snooker player, you [insert cuss words].’
‘I could’ve been destined from the moment I was born to be the greatest snooker player that ever lived but I never picked up a snooker cue. I’ll never know what I could be capable of because it’s impossible for me to try everything.’
Silence fell.
It was possibly the most profound thing I had ever heard at 1am.
A terrifying thought.
How many of us never discover our innate talents and passions because we never stumble across the thing that leads us to that discovery.
I don’t want to be the guy that didn’t fulfil his potential.
But I don’t know what I don’t know. And neither do you.
There are an infinite number of things I could be talented at or passionate about.
But where I’m born, when I’m born, my genetics, the events in my life, dictate a lot about who I am - where I work, what I do, the friends I have, what I’m interested in, the skills I have, the things I’ve learnt, the chances and opportunities that present themselves to me, the challenges and hardships that I face.
If I was born in Texas then the chances of me being passionate about NASCAR are about 100000 times more likely than if I was born in London. That’s not a choice I made it’s just a matter of geography.
And yet even though all of those things are out of my control, life is not a predetermined path. Life is full of boundless opportunities.
I was stuck for many years wondering about my purpose hoping that it would reveal itself to me in some grand fashion.
But I know that purpose, meaning, passions and talents will not just magically appear as if genies from a lamp.
We have to go out there into the unknown collecting experiences and moments as if we are the curator of our very own life gallery.
Our potential, our place in the world and the meaning to our lives are found by being ferociously curious.
Searching for new experiences, hobbies, skills, sports and past times that bring us closer to understanding who we truly are.
I have no issue trying something new and dropping it just as quickly when I realise it’s not for me.
Because I refuse to be the world champion snooker player that never picked up a cue.
I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious. - Albert Einstein.