How to Live Meaningfully

Hey Friend,

Today, I’m sharing an insight on building a meaningful life after traveling abroad for 6 months.

Hopefully, it’ll help you choose what to prioritize in order to live the best life possible.

Let's get into it.

Story

For a long time, I've imagined my future as an "international digital entrepreneur." I would live in one place for 2-6 months at a time and run my business from my laptop.

It sounds sexy, doesn't it?

Travel the world, make a ton of money, and have total freedom.

Well, I just got back from five weeks in Bali, and while exciting, I felt a complete lack of meaning.

I'd work on my laptop in a cafe, surrounded by dozens of other white people doing the same thing.

I felt like a clone. And in the Balinese waitresses' eyes, I'm sure I was.

Problem

It sounds exciting: Living in Bali, working on my laptop business, and traveling freely in the meantime.

And it was.

But here's what I've realized: Excitement does not equal happiness.

It's necessary, especially when young. But it's not everything.

What excitement lacks is meaning.

You go skydiving and you certainly feel excited. But it's like a sugar rush.

You feel it for the moment, but it fades, and you're left as empty as you started (if not emptier).

I don't want that.

I want the grass-fed, free-range steak that's as nutrient-dense as a bamboo forest and will nourish me for days.

Solution

So what's the metaphorical "steak"?

What will provide me with more than just a momentary feeling of excitement to be alive?

What will give me long-term contentment and meaning in my life?

My best bet?

Responsibility.

Responsibility means being needed.

And the best kind of responsibility is unique responsibility. Being needed because you are the only person who can do it.

In Man's Search for Meaning (yep, still referencing that), it was the people who had a reason to live that made it out of Auschwitz.

Whether it was a wife, a future book, or anything else, there needed to be a sense of unique responsibility.

So the question I'm asking myself is: Where am I needed? 

What am I uniquely suited to do? To pull from "The Alchemist" by Paul Coelho, what is my "personal legend?"

My answer might involve my hometown, Hawai`i. Yours might not.

But I invite you to consider who and what needs you the most and not try to play someone else's game.

Don't try to impress an invisible jury judging you on your ability to win at something completely irrelevant to your individuality.

That's what I realized I was doing with the "international digital nomad" pursuit. I was trying to be like the people I saw online.

But that's someone else's game. I'll never win at that.

Instead, I'm making my own game, defining my own definition of success, and being the best at that.

It's less stressful, more authentic, and generally more fulfilling.

Conclusion

That’s it.

This one was a little late with all the traveling and time differences.

I’ll find a new deadline to hold myself accountable to, but it’s a bit of a pain when traversing so many time zones.

As always, if anything in this email piqued your interest, shoot me a reply. I’d love to chat about it with you and see if we can’t both grow a little wiser.

Until next week,

Much love,
Ryan

P.S. Favorite Discoveries

What I'm reading:

The Histories by Herodotus as part of my Online Great Books program. According to the description, “Cicero called Herodotus ‘the father of history,’ and his only work, The Histories, is considered the first true piece of historical writing in Western Literature.”

In other words, it’s the O.G. history book. I find it amusing that the justification for the first wars recorded in Western History is, “He took my woman.”

A favorite quote:

“Frankl saw three possible sources for meaning: in work (doing something significant), in love (caring for another person), and in courage during difficult times.”
- Man’s Search for Meaning