The Math of Life

You have to know why you’re doing it. When I was waiting tables, if you had asked me why I was doing it, I would have answered, “The money.” This was true in its own way. I wouldn’t have waited one table if I wasn’t paid to do so. The money I earned kept my family fed and housed. It was a job, and I did it for the money.

Except when I thought about the job, the money wasn’t the interesting part. The money was a bi-product of what I did, and what I did was meet a lot of strangers, and hold a rotating series of tasks in my head, and spend four or five hours on my feet, and joke around with coworkers. That’s what I did every night, and what I got better at, and why, despite my unrealized dreams to write and publish books, I could keep doing it for as long as I did it.

Writers must know why they write. It’s not to publish books, or make a lot of money, or win awards, or be interviewed on podcasts – though all that may happen, and it’s lovely when it does. Yet if some genie said to me, “You will never publish so much as another essay,” I would almost certainly keep writing. I wouldn’t be able to resist it. Writing, more than any other activity, is how I plug into what I spend all my time wanting to plug into. It’s what reminds me why life itself is interesting and worth living.

Fortunately, no genie will ever tell me I won’t publish so much as another essay. Publishing is how I share what I’ve written, and sharing things I love with other people, whether in writing or conversation, is another way of reminding me why life is interesting and worth living. This, I believe, is true for everyone, whether they write or not. Sharing is what people do, often without knowing they’re doing it.

So why do you do it, all this sharing? Why is it so important? For the money? For the attention? Or is it because in that single transaction, the giving of what you love to another, you recognize how you immediately have more of it? There’s the math of love and life, and no matter how mysterious love may be, know that every one of us is happier with more of it.

If you like the ideas and perspectives expressed here, feel free to contact me about individual coaching and group workshops.

Fearless Writing: How to Create Boldly and Write With Confidence.
You can find William at: williamkenower.com