Rediscovering Your Heroes

There are certain days when you rediscover your heroes. For me, today was one of those days. It started at about 3:00 AM this morning when my mom texted me that the island that my dad was visiting in the Philippines was hit by an earthquake with a 6.8 magnitude. Naturally, I freaked out. I was shit scared, until my mind cleared up and I reread the message. My dad was in the epicenter of the earthquake, but was safe.

Alright, cool. I was sleepy, so I went back to bed.  I woke up a couple of hours later thinking about it. My dad was on a medical mission there, helping people with their eyesight in a remote area of the Philippines. But due to the disaster, he’s now working with the trauma unit at the local hospital. And they’re working out in the parking lot outside of the hospital because the structure of actual hospital building is no longer safe. And then I came to a realization. Holy shit! My dad is a hero.

It’s one of those strange phenomenon that has come full cycle. You see, because when you’re a young boy, your hero is almost always your dad. He is all knowing and powerful. He can fix shit. He can chop wood and make fires. He can drive cars. He knows all the answers to your homework. And then there comes a time when you start to realize that your dad maybe isn’t the hero you thought he was. Maybe he isn’t awesome at everything. I remember that time very distinctly in my mind. I was around 10 years old and my parents had just gotten me a skateboard. My dad was trying to show me how to use it, at which point he tried to skate down a little hill in our driveway. He bailed, messed up his hand and swore profusely. And that was the point that I realized maybe he wasn’t the hero I thought he was.

But now he is again. And he has been for a while. He’s no longer the hero that you expect to solve all your problems for you. But he is the type of hero to guide and support you in what you’re doing. He is the type of hero that inspires. Sometimes he does it by kind acts. Sometimes he does it by listening. Sometimes he does it by saving lives. Sometimes he does it by calling you out on your bullshit. But he’s a hero. He makes a difference. He inspires. And he makes the people around him better.

When I in high school, trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up, my dad and I had a long conversation. We talked about doctors being heroes. They saved lives! Who wouldn’t want to be able to do that? But, my father brought up the fact that doctors can only save one life at a time. There’s a limit to the scale of what they can accomplish with their hands. However, creativity has the potential to save millions of lives. By challenging the system or solving a difficult problem, creative thinkers can change the world. They can improve the quality of life. They can make technology easily accessible to all. They can pull down repressive governments regimes. They can rally and inspire billions.

To think that we are unable to be heroic is foolish. It doesn’t take exceptional skill, intelligence or passion. All it takes is consideration, thoughtfulness and action. We all have the potential to be heroic. The key is to perform actions that inspire others.

- Christian

Making Awesome Lemonade

You have friends of friends. You have friends. You have best friends. And then you have life long friends. This story is about one of my oldest friends – Chris. We’ve been buddies for almost 20 years, which is amazing.

Over the course of two decades, I’ve learned a lot from him. But after a week of drinking scotch together in Hong Kong, it was apparent that we are still teaching each other things. And not just about expensive scotches.

Four years ago, Chris was working as an investment banker in New York. He was busting his ass, working crazy 80 hour weeks for some rich assholes. And then the markets crashed. The whole industry was thrown in a tailspin. He was in a situation where he wasn’t sure that his company was going to be able to pay him. So, he bounced.

He moved from New York to Beijing to learn Chinese. After a couple in Beijing, he connected with a guy that he knew in college. Together, they started their own private equity firm. After a couple of years and a stint in Shanghai, he’s now in Hong Kong running their company.

Let’s take stock. Four years ago, his world went to shit. But instead of sitting around trying desperately to hold onto his old lifestyle, he let go. He got the fuck out of there and made his own opportunities. He now speaks fluent Mandarin and pretty good Cantonese. He’s the boss instead of the employee. And (best of all) he makes his own hours.

What I love about Chris’s story is that he took lemons and making fucking awesome lemonade. At some point in our lives, we will all find ourselves in a situation that sucks. It can be school, a job, a relationship, an apartment or even a city. You think, fuck it. I’m out of here. I can do better somewhere else. But it takes balls to leave. It doesn’t take any courage to hang around and complain, trying to get your old life back. It takes courage to let go. To move on and actively search out your next opportunity.

The courage to embrace change - that is what’s cool. And that is what Chris taught me.

- Christian

The Fear Of The Same

My greatest fear is to wake up 20 years from now and hate my life. To be so complacent and risk averse that I keep on suffering through the same boring life for decades. I call this the fear of the same. Last week in Hong Kong, I was able to reconnect with an old friend who had done the “unthinkable” by Chinese standards. She had quit her stable job and went backpacking around Asia.

For people who haven’t caught the travel bug, this may sound insane. Why would you leave your high paying job and air conditioned condo in Canada to go sleep in hostels all over Asia, only to collect bug bites and bruises? It doesn’t make sense. You put your career on pause. You’re leaving all of your friends and family behind. You’re messing up the pattern that we’re supposed to follow (go to school, get a job, buy a house, find a partner, get married, have babies). So, why would you do it?

You do it because it’s an adventure. Because it’s the unknown. Because it’s exciting. You do it because normal life is boring. You do it because you’re curious and you want to know what it would be like. Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.

Over the course a couple of Hong Kong beers and some sketchy peanuts, my friend said something that stuck with me:

“I look back at the past five months and I talk to people whose lives are exactly the same. That scares me. I don’t want to go back to being like that.” 

Every day, she woke up and did something different. She learned something new. She saw something that she had never seen before. She was inspired. And she came to the stark realization that some of her friends living “normal” lives were boring. What did you do this week? I watched Breaking Bad. Fuck, well I guess that doesn’t compare to being one of the first Western tourists to backpack through Burma.

So, what does this mean? If you want to be inspired and live an interesting life, you’ve got to take risks. You don’t need to quit your job and backpack around the world. Take a dance class. Learn the guitar. Read a book. Stay up drinking wine with friends until you see the sun rise. Just do something to shake up your routine. Don’t do the same thing every day.

- Christian