I never read Shakespeare, but I’ve heard he said: “the whole world is a stage”. He must’ve been on to something, and it’s easy to see. Step outside and a dark night, and look up. Realize that all the little dots of lights are massive planets whirling around space. Now close your eyes, and imagine your on the deck of a ship, sailing through the ocean. Now change the ship to the big chunk of rock we call earth, and the ocean to a vast expanse of space that’s dotted with other, even bigger, chunks of rocks. Buckminster Fuller gave us that image, but think of us as being on that ship deck.
Whenever I think about this fact, it reminds me that we’re all here pretending that we know what were doing, where we’re going and what this life is all about. And since we’re all prentending anyways, it’s up to you to decide what you pretend your time here is supposed to be about. Shakespeare was definitely on to something and we’re all born as masters of the stage anyways. When we were little we all pretended: to be cowboys, princesses, dragon slayers or builder. Now that we’re older, everyday we chose to do the same pretending, only we do as bankers, consultants, teachers or other ‘grown-up’ pretend things.
It’s a new year. It’s a new opportunity to decide what to pretend.