take the story away

If we are storytelling animals—and for all our attempts to be otherwise, we are—then we oftentimes overlook the power of ending the story. 

Your house is allowed to be an immense source of inspiration—and if it burns down, you can close the curtain, take a deep breath, and in all sincerity tell yourself, it’s just stuff.

The meaning didn’t come from the arrangement of the molecules or some kind of objective attachment to certain items arranged in a certain way. It came from you, and the people you generated it with. 

Which means no matter the tragedy, you can generate the meaning again. New meaning, new twists, incorporating all the pain of the old—a new story you get to tell yourself, you animal. 

Thank you. Let’s have a great day.