“Build another tower, Andrew! A much taller one!” My nephew and niece had said this a dozen times today. After each build, they would take turns picking a toy that would knock all the blocks down.
“Why should I build this tower if you’re going to knock it down again?” I’d ask. I never got an answer, so I took it upon myself to find one.
With time and reflection, the answer came naturally. What do I want to be doing right now? Playing with my nephew and niece, even if that means getting my towers knocked down.
In truth, it was never about the towers. If I wanted to build towers for the sake of building towers, I could do so when they weren’t around. I built the towers so they can knock them down. I built the towers to spend time playing with my nephew and niece. Life is like building the tower, the journey is more fulfilling than the destination.
After we win a game, we feel a moment of satisfaction, but then it’s over.
When a vacation is over, we reminisce on the memories, but then we’re back home.
Once we meet our goal, we bask in the outcome, then move onto something else.
Finishing a tower feels nice, but the true experience is in spending time with family.
After all, I can have the biggest tower with all the blocks, but what’s the point if there is no one to share it with?
What’s the point of mass amounts of wealth without any genuine social connections?
What’s the point of achieving a grand goal if we ruin our relationships or well-being in the process?
It’s easy to get stuck on the obvious goal, like building a tower, but what’s the real reason behind it? When we remember that, we can enjoy the bigger picture, rather than getting caught up in the little things.
Leave a reply