It's All About Other People, Silly
My cousin recently got married. It was a beautiful night. Everyone was so damn happy and full of joy. You could see in people’s watery eyes and hear it in their croaking voices. Everything about the ceremony, held in Boston, was just perfect.
At one point throughout the night, as a group of us were dancing like a bunch of crazy people, I had a realization that felt like God himself saying “DUH.” It was as unmistakable as it is obvious: life is all about being with people.
This is one of those facts that older and wiser people take for granted. But throughout my life, I’ve noticed there were eras when I somehow ignored this reality. I think a lot of self-improvement types can fall into this trap. You become so obsessed with a particular pursuit or your “growth” or whatever else it is you’re pursuing in solitude that you begin to isolate yourself too much, to the detriment of relationships.
This is, of course, foolish. Because no matter how good you become at a particular skill, no matter how much success you have with something, if you have no one to share it with, what is the point?
At weddings this fact becomes so clear you would have to be blind not to see it. From the speeches to the pictures to the cheers to the dancing to the storytelling, it is all about other people. It is all about friendships, family love—filial piety, as Confucius would say—and romantic love.
Nothing means more than being with people.