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Transcript
00:00Zachary Lewis had everything society would call success. At 33, he lived in a sleek high-rise in
00:07downtown Chicago, drove a luxury car, and had a position as a financial analyst that paid well
00:13into six figures. But despite everything he owned, Zachary woke up each morning with a dull ache in
00:19his chest. It wasn't physical. It was something deeper. A kind of sadness that sat between his
00:26ribs like an unwelcome guest who refused to leave. His life had become a series of repetitive events.
00:33Wake up. Work out. Drive to the office. Crunch numbers. Smile at clients. Come home. Microwave
00:41dinner. Scroll endlessly through social media until sleep took over. Friends who once filled his
00:47weekends with laughter and camaraderie had drifted away. Family dinners had become annual events,
00:53not weekly ones. Relationships never lasted more than a few months. Zachary had convinced himself
01:01that he was too busy, too focused, too important to invest in people. One rainy Wednesday evening,
01:08Zachary found himself seated on a park bench after a late meeting. He was supposed to head home but
01:14something in him wanted to pause. To breathe. The park was nearly empty except for an older man
01:20feeding pigeons nearby. The man had a weathered face, gray hair, and wore a coat that had clearly
01:26seen better days. He looked like he didn't belong in a financial district, yet he seemed oddly at peace.
01:34You look like you're carrying the weight of a planet, the man said without looking at Zachary.
01:39Zachary chuckled mostly out of discomfort. Just a long day at work. Funny, the man responded.
01:46Most people say they have long days. But very few admit that it's the life they've built that's tiring
01:53them. That struck a nerve. Is that what happened to you? Zachary asked trying to deflect. Oh I had
02:00long days too. But I learned the hard way what not to ignore in life. Want a list? Zachary didn't
02:07expect that. He looked at his phone. No new messages. No one waiting for him at home. Sure why not?
02:15He replied more out of curiosity than belief. The man smiled and turned toward him. You ignore these
02:22and you'll be miserable for the rest of your life. Zachary rolled his eyes but the man didn't notice.
02:29Or maybe he did and didn't care. First, the man began. Ignore your passions. Do what pays you the
02:36most not what fulfills you. That's the easiest way to make your soul wither while your bank account grows.
02:42I was an engineer. Built bridges, towers and pipelines. Got promotions, bonuses, everything.
02:49But I always wanted to be a writer. I used to scribble short stories at night. Then I told myself
02:55I didn't have time. And now. I haven't written a single story in 27 years. Zachary was silent.
03:03That sounded familiar. Second, the man continued. Ignore your relationships. Think you can go it alone.
03:11Believe that solitude equals strength. Believed it too. My wife begged me to spend more time with her.
03:18Said she missed who I used to be. I told her I was doing it for us. That we'd travel the world
03:24when I retired. But she got tired of waiting. Left. I haven't seen my daughter in 15 years.
03:32Zachary's throat tightened. He thought about Julia, the woman he had dated last year who had
03:37asked the same thing. When will I matter more than your job? Third, the man said with a sigh.
03:44Ignore your health. Work long hours, skip sleep, order fast food, and drown stress with alcohol.
03:50I did all that. Now, even walking from my apartment to this park bench feels like a marathon.
03:57Zachary crossed his arms. That one didn't apply. He hit the gym religiously and ate clean.
04:03Well, most of the time. But still, he couldn't remember the last time he'd had a medical checkup.
04:09Fourth, the man said, feeding more crumbs to the birds. Ignore your inner voice. The one that tells
04:16you you're off course. Drown it out with noise. Music, podcasts, endless Netflix. I knew for years I was
04:24unhappy. But I convinced myself that this was what life was supposed to be. It's not. Zachary thought of
04:30his airpods. He wore them constantly. On the train in elevators even when walking to the coffee shop.
04:38Silence made him uncomfortable. Maybe because in silence, that voice became too loud to ignore.
04:45And lastly, the man said, looking Zachary straight in the eyes. Ignore gratitude. Always chase what's next.
04:53New house, new title, new phone. Forget to appreciate what you have. I used to complain about the view from
04:59my window. Now I'd give anything to wake up next to someone I love and hear a child laugh in the next
05:05room. There was a long pause. The only sounds were distant traffic and the flapping of pigeon wings.
05:12Zachary finally asked. Why are you telling me this? Because you look like someone who still has time,
05:19the man said. I didn't realize I was miserable until I had no chance to fix it. Maybe you still do.
05:26Zachary sat on that bench long after the old man walked away. He didn't even ask his name. Maybe
05:33it didn't matter. What mattered was the mirror that man had held up to him. One made not of glass but
05:39of truth. The next morning, something shifted in Zachary. For the first time in years, he called his
05:46mom. She answered after the second ring. Her voice thick with surprise and joy. They talked for twenty-seven
05:53minutes. He scheduled lunch with an old college friend he hadn't seen since graduation. He went
06:01to work, not to chase a bonus, but to finish early. That evening, he pulled out a dusty notebook from
06:08his closet and wrote the first paragraph of a short story he had thought about for months but never
06:12started. By the weekend, Zachary had made another decision. He would apply to the master's program in
06:19creative writing at a local university. Not to change careers, at least not yet, but to feed a
06:25part of himself he had starved for too long. Change didn't happen all at once. There were still days he
06:31fell into old patterns. Still nights when loneliness sat on his chest like a heavy stone. But there were
06:38also new moments, warm, honest, alive. He stopped seeking validation through things and began finding joy
06:45experiences. A walk in the park. Shared meal. A well-written paragraph. Six months later,
06:53Zachary returned to the same bench. He looked around for the old man but saw no sign of him.
07:00Still, he whispered a quiet thank you into the wind. He had no idea where the man came from or why he
07:06chose to speak that night. But he did no one thing. Ignoring those life lessons would have guaranteed him a
07:13lifetime of silent misery. Listening to them didn't magically fix everything, but it gave him a chance
07:19to live a life he could finally feel proud of. And that was more valuable than any paycheck he'd ever
07:25received.
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