The only unanswered riddle
Remember those riddles that used to stump us as kids?
What is black and white and red all over?
What has cities but no houses, forests but no trees, and rivers but no water?
What has one eye but can’t see?
They’re interesting because the answer could be several things and it ends up being something entirely different than what you initially thought.
Here is the biggest unanswered riddle of all:
What is a successful life?
I bet an answer came to your mind quickly. You probably thought of 3-5 people you think of as successful, and you can easily rattle off why they’re successful.
It probably has to do with their net worth, created by their big job titles and how many stages they’ve been on, talking about things many people would say are important. Maybe they invented something, sold millions of those somethings, became the face of that something.
Sure, seems reasonable. Makes sense.
But are those lives that you really, truly want?
I have those same first thoughts of big names that everyone would recognize…and then I think a little longer and some new answers come. My grandpa who got daily delight from his neighborhood donut shop and Denny’s (where he knew all the workers), my friend who loses time in her hammock reading in the sun, the family that gathers every week for a meal together and to share in each other’s company and stories…
None of it is about the big blockbuster stuff. It is all about connection and joy.
We already know that money, up to a level, is a necessity, and that generally a job is what generates that money…but we dramatically discount the impact and importance of all the other things. We elevate the examples of those who get the first two things right without ever questioning if they got the other stuff right – or got it at all.
And really, it doesn’t matter if they got it. Because they are not you. You are not them. They don’t have to live the track of your life, nor you theirs.
So what is the life track you DO want to live? Have you defined it? Pointed yourself in that direction? Or are you still holding someone else’s north star as yours?
For all you riddlers out there…answers:
A newspaper
A map
A needle
