You can just play
I don’t think there are many shoulds in how to live life— because who knows, really?
But if there’s one should, it’s this: radically live how you want to. Whatever that means to you. It sounds obvious, yet almost no one actually does it. Most haven’t even thought deeply about why and how they want to live.
Let’s step back for a second.
We spawned into this mysterious universe with zero instructions. No clear purpose. Just here, suddenly, like magic. And one day—just as suddenly—we’ll be gone. It’s like we all woke up stranded on some cosmic island with strange matter, life, and laws, Lost style.
It's quite mind-blowing and absurd, really. And equally bizarre that most of us go through the motions of our lives confidently and seriously, without regular confusion and fascination about the unknown nature of our reality and existence.
And even for those who have dwelled on the situation and get it intellectually, there’s a massive gap between knowing life is absurd and living like it is.
That’s because life is so real and immersive, and our programming is deep—millions of years of biological and survival instincts, pain, fear, emotions, obligations, greed, envy, cultural conditioning, social pressure, mimicry. We get inextricably entangled in the Maya (illusion) and go on autopilot - chasing goals we never chose, following paths we never questioned, and burdened with made-up expectations and fears.
But if you break out of the Matrix: disentangle your body and mind from the tentacles of pain and programming; see and embrace life's absurd, inexplicable, and open-ended nature, you'd live very differently.
You’d wake up every day like a player in a game, a kid in Disneyland, a dog in a park, or an improv actor on a set. Every moment and experience would seem fascinating. You’d be bolder, more present, more intentional. You’d pursue what you want and let go of all the excess baggage. You'd be living more lightly, peacefully, and blissfully. No fixed path, no rigid expectations, no ultimate win condition, no attachments, no worries. Just extraordinary experiences and infinite possibilities unfolding in front of you, and a limited amount of time to explore them.
But unfortunately, most of us never experience this degree of liberation. Even the ones lucky enough to get a glimpse of it don't sustain it and aren’t brave enough to act on it.
So, if there’s one thing you do in this life, set yourself free. Right now. Look around, look at yourself, and be astonished. See the absurdity, the beauty, and the possibilities. Clarify your mind and body. Try things, take risks. Follow your heart and curiosities. Go on quests and side quests. Experiment. Let go of nonsense, inside and out. Stop taking it all so seriously. Flow.
Why wouldn’t you? You started as nothing, you'll exit into nothing. But in between, you get to be here, alive and unbound. And your time is running out.
Just start playing.
Notes:
1. Of course, you’d have to do what you need to do to do what you want to do. But with clarity and intention, the line between need and want vanishes.