Why Not?
I heard a great story once about the final exam for a Philosophy 101 course. Students were given the prompt to a single essay question ahead of time and were allowed to prepare and even bring notes to class to help. The prompt was simply: “Why?”
Students furiously transcribed every idea and concept they had learned in the course, hoping they could crack the code of this deceptively difficult final. The majority of students received their grades for the exam and were mildly disappointed to find they received mostly B’s and C’s. One clever pupil, however, earned a 100%. Fortunately for me and my retelling of this story, I can fit the entire answer in this article. To the professor’s profundity— “Why?” the astute student simply responded…“Why not?”.
Ah, yes. Of course. Humans over complicate everything, and I love this story because of its simplicity and relatability.
I ran 15 miles last week. I wasn’t running in a race, I wasn’t training for something, I didn’t even have a specific fitness goal or ideal pace in mind. I honestly didn’t think much of this Saturday morning “stroll” until people started to ask why I did it. It seemed quite difficult to fathom why I would choose to put myself through such an intense physical task without having some greater end goal in mind. I actually started to ask myself if I should be training for something or working toward a faster pace. But then I had a moment of clarity and realized when people asked me, “why?” my answer was,“why not?”.
That might sound trite or cliché, but it is the honest truth. I decided the previous week it would be a fun challenge to run 15 miles, so I did. And it was. I felt a sense of accomplishment when I finished, and I knew I would find something else to try soon that would push me out of my comfort zone and further develop my mental and physical fortitude.
This ties into a favorite concept of mine: there is no end. I realize more every day that true contentment comes from the never-ending process of doing. Joy comes from growth, improvement, and trying new things. Goals and achievements are great, and often worthwhile to pursue, but they are not what sustains our desire for meaning and fulfillment long term.
And of course, all of this rolls into the ultimate mantra: Happy, Not Satisfied. I encourage you to do things just to do them. Read a book because you are curious about a subject. Try surfing because it looks fun, even though you know you will be bad at it for a long time. Write an article on something you find interesting, even if no one else is likely to read it (drawing from personal experience on this one!).
And to anyone asking this question regarding running 15 miles:
I simply say:
