Happiness Now
Really. You can choose happiness
One early morning, during her annual visit to Hong Kong, my mother had a massive stroke alone in her bed. She laid there, eyes wide with terror, unable to move, gurgling and rasping for help until her friend in the next room found her. My mother, who once arrived at my future place of employment — the corporate headquarters of Reebok International Inc. — unannounced, demanding to see the CEO and chairman and her daughter’s new office. Unsurprising but painfully embarrassing to me when I found out later, the CEO, my boss-to-be, actually took a break from the company’s corporate board meeting to show my mother around the building. This woman, who was so used to getting whatever she wanted, is now totally without voice or physical movement and at the mercy of her caregivers.
As I sat next to her, massaging her hands and singing to her, I reflected on life. Are you living the life of your dreams? What if you woke up one day immobilized and gasping? Would you be at peace or would you wish that you had chosen to live your life differently?
Pursuing high daunting goals is built into my consciousness. It was my way of coping with impossible expectations. My family wanted a boy and so I spent my young life trying to make up for something that was impossible for me to achieve. Happiness was elusive. I was never going to be good enough.
