Dear 30 Year Old Me,
Yesterday I wrote to you about one of the superficial "whys" that seem to drive a lot of what I decide on in life. I talked to you about my need to feel that other people perceive me as a cool dude. I say it's superficial because if you think about it, having that value actually leads to being someone who would like to fit in. How does one fit in? One fits in by buying the latest gadgets that come out in the market even if you don't really have a need for the new gadget. It also means following the latest fashion trend even if what you used to wear actually still works. Largely for me - being cool actually means buying stuff. But it doesn't end there. Being cool also means not expressing my disagreement with people who are the "powers that be" even if they are wrong.
So today - I have come to realize - that as much as this value has actually been what I have used as a compass in my journey in life - I think I just have to throw it away. It is time to throw away the value of "coolness".
The problem that I now face though is that when I throw this away, I feel naked. It's like I don't really have anything to show for now - because other people's opinion - which guided my life is no longer the guide that I choose for my life. So what should I follow now?
To answer this question, I had to ask myself why I have progressively been asking for answers on how to live a better life. I actually realized - that the momentum has actually started over two years ago. It started when my niece - our niece - who was eight years old then was diagnosed with cancer. As you can imagine - that was devastating for us in her family. The thing is - when that news broke out, I started reading to see how someone can deal with a disease like that. You know what I learned? I learned that the disease that we call cancer - is one which actually develops, when one's body starts to attack itself. I am not a doctor - so I'm sure that this statement will sound too simplistic. But think about it. Cancer cells are actually cells that mutated into "little monsters" inside a patient's body - starting to attack the healthy cells around it.
So in my quest to actually figure out how to deal with the disease of my niece, I came across so many written articles about ensuring that we help my niece to get her healthy cells to stand up against the cancer cell. We need to get her healthy cells to be stronger. I'll tell you four important actions, that a cancer patient needs to take to get healthy:
- Eat healthful food. Vegetables - green and leafy ones can help the body build the strength to get their healthy cells stronger.
- Stop poisoning the body. Right now, we actually feed ourselves with so much chemicals not by taking poison straight from the bottle. We do it by ingesting processed food. A lot of food items that come in a box or in a plastic bag are actually mixed with chemicals that in their native form will scare any human being from ingesting them.
- Build a healthy mind. The mind controls everything in our body. If our mind is sluggish and overtaken by stress, it can't come up with the necessary actions to help your body to choose to get well.
- Build a happy heart. Our feelings need to be filled with all the positive feelings. Stress and sadness actually causes our body to build up toxic chemicals within our body. These toxic chemicals feed the mutated cells that we call cancer. Moreover - these toxic chemicals actually cause your healthy cells to weaken.
The thing is, with all this knowledge, I am unable to figure out how to impart this knowledge to a child. She is a smart kid and I know that she can actually understand half of what I will tell her - but I realized that if I was going to help my niece - the best way to teach her is to actually be the best example for her. So I decided that I should actually practice the four items that I mentioned above - and I have progressively made bigger and bigger decisions in my life to be the Super Human with healthy cells.
So - what's the point of telling this story? I am telling you this story because I'm starting to realize that this my why. My why is to actually live a great life so I can be the best model to my niece - so she can live a wonderful life full of passion which will in turn help her keep her healthy cells strong. I need to be the positive influcence in her life so she can choose to live a life with a healthy mind and a happy heart.
I know that I rambled through this letter - and I apologize for that. The ideas are just flowing out as I type this letter - and I have not had a chance to organize it. I ask that you stay patient with me and I believe that as we continue on this journey - we will really discover the life that we can live - not just for ourselves - but also for the people who matter to us.
With all my Happy Heart,
The Forty Year Old You
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