I changed my life after 40 years of promising to write a book, which I did this year on the Pandemic. But here is the catch; I do so only because my mother died. She was my greatest friend and safety net. Aeschylus states it perfectly;
“He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep, pain that never forgets falls drop by drop, upon the heart, and in our despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us through the awful grace of God.”
I had my pivot as a 40-year-old crisis. I had the world by the tail but couldn’t answer the question; “Why am I here?”. What was my raison d’etre? I left a lucrative position as executive Vice President of Research and Development to become an entrepreneur making medical do dads to help people live better and longer. As I see it there are three fundamental intuitions; the mathematical logic of the senses; the mind-reason of moral duty; a sense of the value of altruistic experience.
Helping others (as you do in your writings) gives life its value.
I prefer to think of it as experiential rather than existential but you are right, there is an element of the existential in it. Experiencing life from my perspective is something even God can't do without me. :)
After a challenging 2019, I pivoted to my current course on December 9 while journaling in a coffee shop, waiting for my mom's flight to land. Such reflection has often been just the acute stressor needed. Hopefully I've been flamboyant enough since then :)
Pivots are always preceded by watershed events from what I can tell. For me, the BC era refers to both “before Cipro” and “before COVID.” Generally, change occurs when the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of making the change.
I agree, there has to be a trigger that pushes someone beyond a threshold. I wonder if it has to be pain/fear, though (then again, those are the emotions we respond most strongly to, so it kind of makes sense). Also interesting that this threshold seems to differ significantly between people.
I hope the AC era will be one of gentle improvement!
I changed my life after 40 years of promising to write a book, which I did this year on the Pandemic. But here is the catch; I do so only because my mother died. She was my greatest friend and safety net. Aeschylus states it perfectly;
“He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep, pain that never forgets falls drop by drop, upon the heart, and in our despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us through the awful grace of God.”
My book is Pandoras Box
Thanks for sharing that, Geoffrey.
Great quote!
Hi Gunnar,
I had my pivot as a 40-year-old crisis. I had the world by the tail but couldn’t answer the question; “Why am I here?”. What was my raison d’etre? I left a lucrative position as executive Vice President of Research and Development to become an entrepreneur making medical do dads to help people live better and longer. As I see it there are three fundamental intuitions; the mathematical logic of the senses; the mind-reason of moral duty; a sense of the value of altruistic experience.
Helping others (as you do in your writings) gives life its value.
Keep up the great work!
Thanks
Geoff
Hi Geoff.
Existential pivot there :). Reason, morals, and values. Great trifecta!
I prefer to think of it as experiential rather than existential but you are right, there is an element of the existential in it. Experiencing life from my perspective is something even God can't do without me. :)
After a challenging 2019, I pivoted to my current course on December 9 while journaling in a coffee shop, waiting for my mom's flight to land. Such reflection has often been just the acute stressor needed. Hopefully I've been flamboyant enough since then :)
Thanks for sharing, Ben.
Flamboyance comes in many forms ;).
Pivots are always preceded by watershed events from what I can tell. For me, the BC era refers to both “before Cipro” and “before COVID.” Generally, change occurs when the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of making the change.
Hi Nita.
I agree, there has to be a trigger that pushes someone beyond a threshold. I wonder if it has to be pain/fear, though (then again, those are the emotions we respond most strongly to, so it kind of makes sense). Also interesting that this threshold seems to differ significantly between people.
I hope the AC era will be one of gentle improvement!