As we sat in Whole Foods eating our dinner, my friend asked, “In your 21 years of life, what is the most important thing you have learned?” Naturally, I paused for a moment, thinking of all the possible answers that raced through my head. There is one Latin phrase that has always stood out to me though: amor fati. It means “love of fate” or “love of one’s fate.” It describes an attitude in which one ultimately views everything that happens in their life, including suffering and loss, as good. Each moment of our lives has the ability to influence another, and you never know what course of events will led you where. I think it’s important to feel comfortable with that, and to embrace it as well.
I asked him the same question. He replied, “That change is inevitable,” explaining how we will always need to adapt and adjust to new things in life. While I definitely believe this to be true, I asked whether becoming so familiar with change would take away from the experience of change itself. We got lost in conversation and our thoughts took twists and turns and made us think and question ourselves and our work and what on earth we are doing with our lives and we almost missed our train back home. Even if we did, it would have been worth it. The world seems a little bit more manageable than before. And it feels nice.