Living your unremarkable life
A couple days ago I learned about a incredible woman. A woman who was once dubbed ‘the most beautiful woman in the world”. A woman who did not only conquered the big screen, but whose intelligence saw her inventing a technology to help combat the Nazis in World War II, which later on formed the basis of WiFi we have today. A woman whose patriotism saw her giving her invention to the U.S Navy for free, only to be told that it would be better if she supports the war effort by selling kisses instead. Which she did by the way, $7million worth of kisses, all in just one night.
When I learned about actress and one the 20th century’s most notable inventors, Hedy Lamarr, I couldn’t help but feel so inspired and fascinated, but also a tad sad. Her glamourous day job as a starlet and her past time hobby studying weaponry and pattern of frequencies, make my life seems so…unremarkable.
But the more I studied this gorgeous, intelligent and amazing woman, who from the outset looked like she has had it all, I realised that being amazing doesn’t always translate to feeling amazing. Despite of all her notable accomplishments, she didn’t seem happy, especially in her later years. She had 6 marriages and 6 divorces. She was estranged from her own son, had a disastrous plastic surgery in an attempt to preserve her beauty, and became more and more recluse towards the end of her life.
Learning about this and at the same time being shocked by the news of suicide carried out by people who led a similarly remarkable lives, people like Anthony Bourdain, the great culinary vigilante whom I used to love watching on TV back in the ol’ days, or the uber-talented Kate Spade, whose playful yet sophisticated line of handbags had taken the world by storm, made me wonder about the significance of it all.
Maybe being remarkable isn’t all its hyped up to be.
Maybe the question shouldn’t be whether or not you lead an extraordinary life according to world’s view, but rather…
Do you like your life?
Are you pursuing things that interest you?
Are you surrounded by people you love?
Are you happy?
And if the answer is yes, then maybe your life is not so bad afterall…
Because at the end of the day… aren’t they the things that matter most?
With love,
Keren x
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