What Meaning Does Life Hold for You?

The gentle sounds of the River Nile lapping against the side of the boat and the opportunity to relax in decadent luxury on a sunbed, being served drinks as the world floated past had already put me in a contemplative state, when I glanced towards the banks on the luscious green side. I saw a local man in a kaftan going about his business, and I wondered ‘What meaning does life hold for you over here, in this place, with your country’s customs and traditions?’

He was filling a container from the flowing waters. I don’t know if he planned to drink it or if it was for the animals that were near him, presumably he was tending them as they grazed peacefully beneath some shady palm trees.

The boat kept moving swiftly and although I captured the fleeting moment with my phone camera, I didn’t reach its conclusion of finding out who was the recipient of the water. The serenity of that scene has remained in my memory banks though as one of innumerable special reflections on a life blessed with a multitude of journeys around this planet.

A Fortunate Life

There are many people who have travelled far more than I, yet I am so very grateful for the incredible variety of people, places and experiences that I have been blessed to encounter.

I’ve clambered through subterranean caves in Malta and Mallorca; the catacombs full of human skeletons beneath a Church in Lima, choosing a resting place as close to their God’s home as possible; a Pharoah’s chamber in a pyramid at Gaza; and I’ve climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Eiffel Tower and trekked the Inca Trail through the Andean Mountains to Machu Picchu; my feet have trodden on a floating reed village in Lake Titicaca and 150 metres of ice on the Athabasca Glacier in British Columbia, as well as the muddy trails of the Amazon Jungle. I’ve scuba dived inside shipwrecks to as much as 63 meters below sea level in paradisiacal locations like Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands.

I’ve ridden camels, quad bikes, jet skis and elephants. I’ve piloted light aircraft over France, Belgium and England, been on South Pacific boats, and flown on hundreds, if not thousands of planes around the globe. I’ve been in helicopters over the Iguazu Falls of Argentina and the Red Centre at Uluru. I’ve been on hot air balloons over the Valley of the Egyptian Kings, the Parliament House at Canberra and the Australian Outback. I’ve sailed on yachts and a houseboat, plus cruise ships to Alaska and Asia. I’ve met sharks, snakes, spiders and crocodiles; I’ve played with a pod of dolphins by the Cocos-Keeling Islands and held the calming gaze of whale sharks in the clear blue oceans of the Ningaloo Reef and the Philippines. There are too many adventures to list, but I’ve loved them all, and my bucket list seems to grow ever longer.

I say all that not to brag or ‘big note’ myself, but to give context and provide contrast. Most people have travelled, at least in my privileged Western World anyway, though many people I’ve encountered on these journeys have not been so fortunate. Many live in abject poverty and can only dream of one day, going somewhere, other than where they were born and raised.

I was fortunate indeed to be born into a family whose thirst for travel and adventures was in my blood. But above all these things I have mentioned, what do you think remains with me the most?

It’s the same thing I think that enabled my parents to live long and interesting lives.

I inherited from them a great interest in, and fascination for, people.

For Me, It’s All about the People

When I think of the places and the adventures, the added icing on the cake, and the real meaning of the journeys was all about the people we met along the way.

My parents were hoteliers. My mother who lived to 100 years old, was always interested in people. My Dad used to joke that he could leave her sitting alone on a waiting chair in the middle of a shopping centre while he went into a store to buy something, and by the time he returned she’d have a bunch of new friends around her! He was a little shyer than her, so he kept working with the aircraft he had loved since being a young RAF engineer on Malta in the War, but he helped run the hotels outside of his airport job, and he lived to see their 70^th Wedding Anniversary and his 90^th birthday. One of his mantras was that ‘Everyone you meet has something to teach you.’ They were decent people with humanitarian values and strong principles.

They didn’t care too much about money, though they worked really hard for what they made. But, as long as they had enough to raise the family, live comfortably and travel, they considered themselves very fortunate. Their friendships were their currency.

So, when I think about our many travel adventures, I remember the smiles and charisma of our tour guides, Mark in Australia, Edwar on the Inca Trail, Sherif and Mohammed in Egypt, and Holly through America and Canada to name just a few who spring to mind. I think of our scuba diving guides, like Dharma in Bali, Neil in the Solomon Islands, and the German brothers, Flo and Fabian who taught us to dive.

I remember people who ran bars, restaurants, and hotels around the world, or just worked in them, and people who drove taxis, like the young lad in Rio, who proudly told us about his mother’s chocolate cake business. I have a good memory but not an encyclopaedic one alas, so many of the names escape me, but a host of stories linger fondly in the recesses of my mind.

You Don’t Have to Travel to Find Meaning

You don’t have to travel though to be an observer and student of human behaviour and to be mindful enough to conduct self-examinations of your own. You can do that in your everyday life, right where you are. After all, not everyone is lucky enough to travel.

My love of travel became a lower priority, as are many other people’s, by helping to raise children in Perth, Australia and running businesses. I compromised by following in my parents’ footsteps. It is said that ‘If Mohammed can’t go the mountain, bring the mountain to Mohammed.’ So, I operated a backpackers’ hostel business for 14 years, which meant tens of thousands of travellers came to me from all over the globe, living under my roof. Taking after my mother, it was never about the money, it was always about the people, the stories, the sharing of ideas, cultures, and experiences; I could write a book about it and I loved it.

After years of coaching people in business and life transitions and cramming in loads of personal development courses and reading hundreds of self-help books, I’ve developed a great interest in the philosophy of the Stoics, hence the existential title of this blog.

‘What meaning does life hold for you?,’ is a question for each one of us to answer according to our own unique interpretation of our individual and collective purpose. Is it merely to exist? To pay the bills and get through the working week? To get the kids through school and off your hands? To pay off the mortgage? To be a volunteer in the community? All of these things may claim priority at different times and there have been many studies and a plethora of books exploring the answers to the question. Certainly, a life that involves helping others seems to be a fulfilling factor.

If you don’t know the meaning, perhaps your mission is to find the meaning?

A Parting Thought on Your Legacy whilst Living in the Present

I’d like to think that I learned much from my parents, such as to be a decent human being; to respect other people; to seek to keep learning and improving myself; to be grateful for the joys life brings you and not grumble at the adversities, because there are always others who have it worse than you; to work hard for what you want, but through service and never at the expense of others. I don’t remember them explicitly telling me all those things, but they did it most often by example. I’m not perfect, so I stumble like everyone else, but I keep trying every day, and I know that I’ve been able to help and positively influence many of the folk I’ve encountered along the way. That knowledge is the true power that eludes the power-hungry and it means more to me than money ever could.

One day, unless you do something truly extraordinary, and probably after your grandchildren pass, most people will never even know that you existed, and that’s a sobering thought, right? But today, right now, you know, and those who know you and care about you, know that you exist. So, what meaning will you choose to make of it?

Good luck in finding an answer that works well for you. I hope you do. Asking the question of yourself is the first step.

I’ll conclude with the unforgettable words of Sherif, our tour guide through the antiquities of Ancient Egypt in 2007, ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, get ready, because today is going to be the best day of your life!’

And as Jean-Luke Picard of Star Trek would say, ‘Make it so.’