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Two Thoughts

The idea that after the population bubble bursts, humankind will be forced back to a primitive way of life has some logical basis. If K-12 education continues declining and kids don't see the point of learning anything because AI can answer all questions, chances are there will be no qualified people left to repair things after natural catastrophes. So, there is a path to going to back to basics and somehow surviving. Maybe that is nature's way of slowing down our unhealthy, unsustainable, unnatural growth. This was not the happiest thing to read so for balance found some inspiration in Simon Sinek's Find Your Why where he starts with :

Fulfillment is a right and not a privilege. Every single one of us is entitled to feel fulfilled by the work we do, to wake up feeling inspired to go to work, to feel safe when we’re there and to return home with a sense that we contributed to something larger than ourselves. Fulfillment is not a lottery. It is not a feeling reserved for a lucky few who get to say, “I love what I do.”

As someone who is yet to find fulfillment at work and struggles for purpose since J left to college, I felt I was the right audience for this book. Maybe I could and would discover my Why too 

At its core, the WHY is an origin story. Who we are is the sum total of all the experiences we’ve had growing up—the lessons we learned, the teachers we had and the things we did. In order to help your companion discover their WHY, you’ll need to listen to stories from their past. Their WHY represents who they are at their natural best and will be revealed through specific stories and experiences that affected their life and shaped who they are.

Reading the essay about the impending population bust and the book about finding the Why of my life back to back feels jarring. Does the Why even matter if there won't be a world (as we know it) left to act on it. Perhaps if we all knew our individual Whys then we might make decisions that would postpone the end-times that that essay portends. 

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