What has made my life more beautiful has been, I think, my naïve curiosity. It has led me into a few traps along the way, but that is how we learn. It has kept me discovering new things to marvel at: ideas that challenged my assumptions and made me look again, artists and thinkers whose imagination revealed the world from unexpected angles. Every walk of life opens up more questions than answers, giving the curious spirit countless rabbit holes to explore. With new discoveries being made all the time, our understanding of the universe continues to expand, broadening our horizons every day.
Above all, however, it is relationships that have made my life beautiful. They are, of course, multifaceted. Unlike a tranquil landscape, they can scrape, wound and bite, demanding patience, forgiveness and perseverance. Yet my wife and I have, over the years, reached degrees of unity that neither of us could have anticipated. We have remained bound together through good times and bad, faced life’s challenges side by side, and raised a son of whom we are immensely proud.
My life has also been enriched by discovering the deeper layers of meaning that gifted people express through art, literature and music. I enjoy following the threads of an idea, imagining where they began and wondering where they might ultimately lead. Storytelling has become part of that same exploration. By asking, “What if?”, I can examine life from different perspectives and, when it is grounded in careful research, step into another person’s world with greater understanding and empathy.
Perhaps surprisingly to some, nursing people who were close to death, or caring for those in their final hours, brought me a profound sense of fulfilment. It was one of the clearest moments in which I felt that I had done something genuinely worthwhile. I suspect that quiet satisfaction is too often overlooked when we ask what it is that makes a life more beautiful.