When we were children and everything seemed like a game, was that real? Walking would invariably turn into running, with the sole purpose of seeing how fast we could go. Eating, bathing, everything had play value. When we got a little older, wearing the right clothes or having the right hairstyle became more important than anything else. Was that the real world? What happened to the playground that absorbed our attention five years ago? Now we're adults and we're probably all thinking, "This is it, this is the real thing." But even in our adult lives, we're not exactly the same people we were five years ago. In fact, several years from now our current worries may seem as trivial to us as flinging peas across the room with a fork seems to us now.

We reinvent ourselves all the time, yet at each stage we're certain that what we experience right now, for better or for worse, is all that life has to offer us. But hindsight shows us that there are, and always were, other possibilities, we were just oblivious to them at the time. Just as it was necessary to let go of the playground to experience life as a teenager, and then to let go of the varsity letter jacket to become a young business professional, maybe we have to let part of our current selves die before we can be enlightened and see the bigger picture. Perhaps that's why it seems so frightening to really be hopeful or patient in the midst of a trying situation. The part of us that wants to respond with anger, worry, and fear is choking and gasping for breath to express itself. It's like we are dying. But just remember, we've survived this death many times--from infant to toddler, from teenager to adult--and hindsight has proven that each time we died, we really just started to live.