Surviving Isn’t Living

Most of what we do in life serves no practical purpose.

And that’s exactly why it matters.

Punch and kick in the air for no reason.

Paint your tiny figurines.

Meet a friend for lunch.

Stare at the sky like a child trying to remember what clouds feel like.

None of it keeps you warm.

None of it fills your stomach.

None of it protects you from the wolves.

But it’s the only thing that makes you human.

We all start at survival — food, shelter, safety.

That’s the floor.

Every other species stops there.

Humans don’t.

We aim our awareness at things that have **nothing** to do with staying alive…

and somehow those things become the meaning of our lives.

Karate wasn’t about the fight.

It never was.

Ten million people worldwide aren’t preparing for a bar fight that will never come.

Celebrities with security teams aren’t doing kata for self-defense.

They’re doing it because the act of *doing* shapes who they are.

Your purpose doesn’t need to be useful.

It doesn’t need to make money.

It doesn’t need to impress anyone or justify itself.

Purpose just has to matter to **you**.

My English teacher showed me this when I was seventeen.

He made us focus on something in the classroom — intensely, mindlessly.

Then he snapped us out of it:

“Now focus on your foot.”

And suddenly my whole world was there — in a place I hadn’t noticed for years.

One shift of attention and the universe changed shape.

He called it magic.

Maybe it was.

Because the real human superpower isn’t strength or intelligence.

It’s the ability to choose what you notice — and in doing so, choose what becomes meaningful.

Focus your awareness on something beyond survival, and you become more than a creature trying to stay alive.

You become someone who *lives on purpose.*

So do your silly shit.

Lean into the things that don’t “matter.”

Invest in the hobbies, the rituals, the passions that bring you calm, joy, balance, and peace.

Surviving is automatic.

Living takes intention.

Fact check me.