The story we choose to live in
but we often think we don't have a choice
Lately, I've found myself reflecting deeply on the story I choose to live in.
Recently, I’ve been trying to build my presence on LinkedIn and Twitter. In San Francisco, your online brand feels like your identity. It’s how people see you, how they measure you. I’ve been playing into that. I post. I think about how I can be perceived. I scroll.
But now I’m in Hawaii, and it’s different. I’m not constantly reaching for my phone. No one here gives a fxxk about AI or startups. My snorkeling instructor just wanted to show me fish. The cultural shows are all about hula, not hustle.
And I started noticing how detached my brain feels. How far away all of it seems.
All the things I’ve heard over and over.
“AI is going to rule humanity.”
“We’re building the future.”
“This is the most important work of our time.”
The wrapper says science, but the candy is still story, a narrative, just like before, only now coded in GPUs instead of carved in myth. It’s not so different from the Polynesian tales of ancestors crossing oceans. In the world of tech, Sam Altman is our Moana.
Even innovation feels familiar here, like an ancient pattern. At the museum, they displayed tons of fish hooks from different generations. To me, they looked almost identical. Slight variations. It reminded me of how I’ve been tracking every new AI model, small differences, but in 50 years, they might all look the same for my grand children.
Maybe you feel relieved when you realize your life isn’t that serious. I get that.
But for me, it raises a another question: If everything is just a story, which one do we choose to live in?
The story that we’re all one big family, ‘ohana, like they say in Hawaii?
Or the story that power and money and intelligence are what give life meaning?
And why, if I know that love matters more, do I keep choosing to live in a world that rewards power instead?
why what which why why why?
I felt like a dysfunctional machine: disoriented, half-broken, endlessly looping.
wait what? which? where? why why why?
The menu of life is wider than our imagination allows.
And then I realized the life I chose is a story where I bet everything on what I love. But i’m grateful that I’m granted the option. And I’m lucky to have Esther, the version of me who’s made it possible so far.
Even if I stopped today, I’ve already come farther than most ever do. Not even 0.001% of people have made it as far as I have. I’m blessed with opportunities, now the rest is mine to shape, to decide how I want to color the canvas of my life.
What is the next chapter I want to write?