Life Is Uncertain. We Need to Appreciate the Uncertainty.

It’s just a matter of perspective.

Today I finally had the chance to connect with my friend who’s based in Paris. I met her during my semester in the south of France and now she’s becoming a master’s student at the same school we attended.

We had a lovely conversation that comprised of various subjects. The first thing we discussed, of course, was the virus.

How’s the situation like in Paris?

I thought her answer was going to be something along the lines of “better than you guys”.

Believe it or not, though, it was quite the opposite.

In Paris, she started going back to the office on a daily basis. Not only that, but everything is pretty much open there — and although people wear masks in public, life in Paris is not all daisies and roses.

She goes out with her friends sometimes, and at the bars groups are close together without wearing masks. She also added that the summer is getting hot and people are tempted to take their masks off in public.

Listening to her talk about life in COVID-era Paris reminded me of how good I have it here in Florida. I think I’ve been too stressed about the news. It’s true. You can see it in my writing. In June alone, I’ve written at least ten pieces related to COVID and the protests. While these subjects are important, I did not give myself peace of mind. And I wasn’t seeing the bigger picture.

Despite Florida having so many new cases a day, at least I have a lot of physical space. I don’t know the square footage of my grandparent’s house, but it’s definitely huge (in European standards) for three people. Here in America, this house is average. In Paris this house is gigantesque!

I don’t have to leave the house. My grandma does the grocery shopping. I have food, water, and shelter. Why do I need to leave? I go out on joy rides around South Florida a few times a week, and I get drive-thru Starbucks every day. The latter is probably the most dangerous thing I do. I wear a mask when I do that.

Writing this, I realize how different my tone sounds. A few days ago my tone sounded like “we’re all gonna burn in hell” and now it’s a more chill feeling. It’s all a matter of perspective. Before my conversation the only basis of comparison I had for quarantine was in my immediate surroundings and my family in Barcelona. Now I see someone living in a big city going to the office and to bars. It reminds me of how good I have it here.

Whether I’m in Paris or Florida, I’m definitely not going out. That’s just me. I’ve been offered multiple times to meet up with friends here in Florida — I’ve always said no. I’d probably say the same in Barcelona or in Paris. The way that I see it, even if European cities have fewer cases than we do, they are still a multitude denser than we are. The close proximity of people would make me too nervous to get a drink with friends in Paris.

Another topic of discussion was life choices.

She was telling me about her decision to take a gap year and how she wasn’t sure of how good of a choice she made.

My friend had graduated from the school we studied at in spring 2019. Instead of going back to school the following fall to get her master’s she spent the past fourteen months interning in Brussels and in Paris. She has worked for multiple companies, and even worked with a podcast!

She wasn’t sure that this was the best choice for her. While she sees the benefit of being in the workforce early and learning things outside of school, she still doesn’t know if not going to school right away was the smartest idea.

I’m very young and have a lot more to learn, but one thing I’ve found is that life is not linear. Life isn’t algebra. We aren’t on a constant positive slope. We also aren’t on a constant negative slope. It’s way more complicated than that.

I know plenty of people who are financially and/or professionally successful who did not have what you would call a traditional path. You see this with “big” successes as well.

Before they founded their venture together, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia were in their mid-twenties barely affording rent in San Francisco. They both went to the Rhode Island School of Design and didn’t have “real skills” outside their creative endeavors. Their landlord raised their rent and they didn’t know how they would pay it on time.

Chesky and Gebbia heard of a conference that was happening in San Francisco, and they also heard that hotels were booked in the city. So they pulled out an air mattress, inflated it, and advertised it as lodging on the Web. Immediately they got multiple inquiries for the air mattress.

Eventually, after years of failure and tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt, Joe Gebbia, Brian Chesky, and their third partner Nate Blecharczyk would go on to create one of my favorite success stories in the 21st century.

I’m talking, of course, about Airbnb.

We put way too much pressure on young people to figure out the rest of their lives. But the truth is that we have the rest of our lives to figure it out.

Chesky and Gebbia (Blecharczyk was the last founder to join) were just “average Joe’s” until they weren’t. Now they’re billionaires — with a “b”. But they’re still average Joe’s. They’re people just like you and me. They got lucky and worked hard to maintain and create more luck.

You can’t plan when you’ll be lucky, but when you are, you must seize the moment when you have it.

Planning your life too much would prevent you from seizing that moment. Imagine if Chesky were more focused on being a manager at his firm instead of being open to new ideas.

“That’s (Airbnb) a good idea, but I think I’ll pass, I’m too focused on my job.”

We argue that entrepreneurship is an uncertain path but is what I just wrote not an uncertain path? What if the person who’s in the power to promote you doesn’t like you, even if you’re good at your job? What if it were the opposite (they liked you), but that person moved or got laid off or earned another job?

“Real jobs” are just as uncertain as entrepreneurship.

It’s real-life that’s uncertain. No matter what you do or who you are, the world and universe function chaotically. You’ll never know when the butterfly effect is happening to you, though it definitely will occur (if it’s not right now).

And who knows what that butterfly will be.

❤ — Noah

P.S. If you liked my story, here are some of my favorite personal essays I’ve written!