You’re Not Special and That’s a Good Thing
“Success is when the people you love, actually love you too.” — Warren Buffett
The beauty of life is that one conversation can change our world. Two years ago, on a bench in rural France, I had one of those conversations.
I was talking with my brother-in-law, who had just finished a three-year Buddhist retreat, and I asked him how he was able to stay sane while living for such a long period of time in close confines with twenty other men, and his response changed my world.
“The first 90 days was a challenge. However, slowly I felt a shift and I stopped thinking about my personal traits that made me different from the others, and I started thinking about what qualities I had that best connected me to the others.”
I had heard a variation these words a million times before. However, something about the way my brother-in-law carefully crafted them, helped them to finally stick.
Realizing that my life was not best served by focusing on what made me special, but rather how I could make the lives of the people around me more special, was the first step. Actually getting good at it was the next.
I still have a long way to go regarding how to support others to the best of my ability. However, over the…
