A quick disclaimer: This post is largely going to work through the analogy of faith, but the implications for business and beyond are huge. Please stick around to the end.
A while back, a friend and I were chatting about the church in a public place, and another friend who wasn't a Christian but happened to be listening in decided to chime in with his two cents. He talked about how he grew up in the church and basically was glad he got that out of his way so he'd never have to subject himself or his kids to that ever again. Granted, I genuinely don't think this person was being malicious or trying to be offensive. I think he just turned off his filter and started rambling off stuff that some would deem offensive.
But I don't get offended because I understand many people echo this sentiment. Honestly, if anything, it makes me sad because these people have closed off that part of their minds to the idea of church. I didn't argue back with the person at the time because I knew it wouldn't go anywhere.
The problem wasn't that I couldn't convince them to think otherwise, it's that the person has to have a level of curiosity that will open them to these discussions.
I phrase the title of this post as a question because this is one of those things that I feel is super, super important, but I honestly don't have the answer to. Of course, it's important to me from the standpoint of religion, but like I shared in the disclaimer, the implications of curiosity extend far into every part of life, especially business.
I'll share my story of how I got to this point to illustrate that I wish people could become curious about life but never go through what I had to go through.
For me, it started with religion. Having grown up in the church and having gone to a Christian undergraduate university, I was very disenchanted with the church following college. It led to some very dark, depressing days as I contemplated my own meaning for existence. I originally went to college to be a pastor, but I found myself in an occupation that had nothing to do with the church. Not that that is a problem at all, but for me, it felt for a long time like I was defying what God wanted me to do, causing an immense amount of guilt and depression.
Things hit bottom when I ended up hospitalizing myself for one night in fear of taking my own life. Part of the problem at this point was that I was trying a newly prescribed depression medication that actually made things worse instead of better. With the help of my wife, I started getting the real help I needed in the form of seeing a psychiatrist, and I'm happy to say that I no longer have to see that psychiatrist nor take any form of medication.
In those sessions with my psychiatrist, we really put the gears to the grind of relentlessly asking the question, "Why?" No stone was left unturned as we explored every part of my life by constantly asking why. I would not say at all that I have all the questions answered about my faith, but I am more comfortable in the fact that I am not afraid to be curious and not afraid to ask "why" or "why not".
This had a profound trickle effect in the rest of my life where I have developed a healthy curiosity about business matters and still constantly ask that question of why. It's why this blog exists now. I have learned everything throughout all these posts because I was curious why, and I was not afraid to embrace the fact that I might be wrong or have a false assumption about something.
That all said, I think a healthy curiosity is a crucial life skill, especially in business, but I obviously don't want anybody to have to go through what I went through to get there. This is one of those rare cases where I'm going to encourage you to do something, but I have no concrete steps to offer you in getting there. My only hope is that you can take my story and see how the natural evolution of my thought processes turned me from being a depressed wanderer into being a focused performer.
I'll share my story of how I got to this point to illustrate that I wish people could become curious about life but never go through what I had to go through.
For me, it started with religion. Having grown up in the church and having gone to a Christian undergraduate university, I was very disenchanted with the church following college. It led to some very dark, depressing days as I contemplated my own meaning for existence. I originally went to college to be a pastor, but I found myself in an occupation that had nothing to do with the church. Not that that is a problem at all, but for me, it felt for a long time like I was defying what God wanted me to do, causing an immense amount of guilt and depression.
Things hit bottom when I ended up hospitalizing myself for one night in fear of taking my own life. Part of the problem at this point was that I was trying a newly prescribed depression medication that actually made things worse instead of better. With the help of my wife, I started getting the real help I needed in the form of seeing a psychiatrist, and I'm happy to say that I no longer have to see that psychiatrist nor take any form of medication.
In those sessions with my psychiatrist, we really put the gears to the grind of relentlessly asking the question, "Why?" No stone was left unturned as we explored every part of my life by constantly asking why. I would not say at all that I have all the questions answered about my faith, but I am more comfortable in the fact that I am not afraid to be curious and not afraid to ask "why" or "why not".
This had a profound trickle effect in the rest of my life where I have developed a healthy curiosity about business matters and still constantly ask that question of why. It's why this blog exists now. I have learned everything throughout all these posts because I was curious why, and I was not afraid to embrace the fact that I might be wrong or have a false assumption about something.
That all said, I think a healthy curiosity is a crucial life skill, especially in business, but I obviously don't want anybody to have to go through what I went through to get there. This is one of those rare cases where I'm going to encourage you to do something, but I have no concrete steps to offer you in getting there. My only hope is that you can take my story and see how the natural evolution of my thought processes turned me from being a depressed wanderer into being a focused performer.
Comments
Post a Comment