"How Starbucks Saved My Life" May Save My Life

Read "How Starbucks Saved My Life" by Michael Gates Gill recently. It was about a man in his fifties (himself basically) who had it all but suddenly lost it all. From a creator director at J. Walter Thompson Advertising, to a Starbucks employee who had to scrub the toilets and serve the people in front of his cash register where he once stood in his branded suit. Real story. Inspirational, maybe. But it did make me stop and think about my own life.

"I was over sixty when I stopped one late, silent night in the city on the way home from my new job, looked up at the stars, and paused in the rush of life to touch my heart. Only then did I discover how happy I was.

I had grown up in such a cacophonous culture - family and friends full of high-sounding expectations, thousands of noisy ads encouraging a belief in external measures of success - that I never learned to listen to my own heart."

It questions me, when was the last time I asked myself - what makes me happy, and whether I am happy. I realized that I have been trying to live up to others' expectations of myself, instead of to my own expectations. I think all things happen for a reason, and there's no room for regrets in decisions being made in the past but going forward, how would I want to lead my life?

"I discovered so late in life that trusting your own heart is our greatest - and only - path to real happiness. It was only through trusting my heart as my guide that I discovered this. I believe everyone is given a unique path to happiness that is special for each person - we just have to listen to our hearts."

I know, a little repetitive, but I reckon that Michael was merely trying to reinforce that real happiness comes from within yourself. Happy with what you're doing in your life, happy at your job, happy the way you're living your life, happy that you are with your loved ones - basically being at peace with yourself. And that was not to be confused with those short bursts of happiness which you derive from external material purchases.

And then I thought - actually, it takes courage for one to relinquish all the expectations which were laden on him and then to pursue his happiness. Either that, or he had nothing else to lose anyway... but we all wait, thinking happiness may just be around the corner while telling ourselves that we would get used to the miserable lives that we're leading now. And then when we get older, we stop dreaming, we stop hoping for happiness, lose that glimmer and just got so caught up and used to the miserable lives that we're stuck in that rut for the rest of our lives. And we retire, wondering what was that about in the last 40 years. That's depressing me as I type that out. But... that burst of courage I need, may just be what that could steer my life into something so worthwhile.