This post earlier reminded me of the story below. But the important takeaway here is: Life is insanely good. Stop catastrophizing about everything, and LIVE!
See: https://twitter.com/HumanProgress/status/1882401767251423545
Tru story: When I was hiking to Annapurna’s base camp in Nepal in 2002 (10th highest mountain in the world), we were skinny and constantly hungry, and there’s only so much dal bhat you can eat.
In a hamlet on the descent, there were chickens roaming in the yard.
I wanted to eat one of those chickens.
The negotiations that ensued, me a high-tech, Silicon Valley lawyer having worked on multi-million dollar deals, and the Nepali man of the house who ultimately needed his wife and children’s blessings to slaughter said chicken, were impressive.
The eventual cost of this luxury? $22.
Given a rustic hostel bed and cold shower went for $2.50, you understand the value of that chicken.
As with all things in life, the devil is in the details. Had I understood the fine print in our “we don’t speak the same language but I will point at your chicken and lick my lips until the water buffaloes come home” negotiations, I might have understood we were splitting the chicken “halvies,” but our half was the dark meat, and their half was everything else.
I didn’t even care.
I watched the husband chase down that old bird with an axe and kill it before my eyes–it really does keep running like a “headless chicken”–and waited patiently, sniffing the air until dinner time for that glorious meal.
Best finger-licking-chicken… curry I’ve ever had!