The Resume and the Eulogy
A friend recently suggested I check out the Ted Talk given by David Brooks. This short video poignantly but directly asks the question, what are you living for- your resume or eulogy?
This is a provocative thought. It requires self-awareness. It requires a certain level of humility. It requires the kind of wisdom that I believe only comes with time and a bit of adversity. After all, success is not what breeds change rather failure.
It is easy to lean back and look at the world self-righteously whether in the case of someone who has the perfectly accomplished resume or the person who values the pure intangible effects of living a selfless life.
The resume and the eulogy are not parallel paths, in my opinion. One is not superior to the other. They intersect at a point of maturation. An enlightened state where realize that life is a lot more complex than the boxes we places them in. This is what matters. There is no perfect timing for this discovery. It is merely the discovery itself that is critical to our own well-beings.
Quote of the day: “The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self.” – Albert Einstein
Neurally yours,
your inner poet xo