Invert the Pyramid
If you are a recovering type A personality like me, you are intimately familiar with the feeling of overwhelm — when your schedule is oversubscribed and you wonder what is it all for? What are these milestones going towards? Who are you ultimately pleasing? Since coming to Dahab for freediving (incidentally the land of pyramids), I’ve become increasingly aware what brings me true joy is the depth of my experience as it relates to others. The aspect of relating is so pivotal on my self-actualizing ladder yet I constantly deny myself of it with habituated solitary grind (per Jenny Odell’s discourse on the pandemic of outcome obsession). People say, “it is lonely at the top.” I wonder if they are referring the acculturated worldview of competition that fuels our addiction to productivity for fear of becoming obsolete. If you are on a path that keeps narrowing itself so it eventually barely accommodates one, would it be a better idea to get off that path? It is the road to nowhere, destined for scarcity and alienation.
This reminds me Clint Eastwood’s biopic, Sully. The US Airways A321 captain that took an unprecedented landing on the Hudson River to save lives took a severe beating from the authority that questioned his judgment. Instead of succumbing to the narrowing pyramid of corporate asset preservation, his split decision inverted the pyramid to preserving human lives. He could manipulate the press to retaliate against the government for accusing him. Instead, he dug deep and stood in his higher value of service over self defense until the charges dropped.
What if, loneliness at the top is just an illusion, and you can invert the pyramid by choosing otherwise? The more people you touch, the more challenges you say yes to, you would find expansion following the egoic contraction to keep you safe. Per Mother Teresa, how others react is none of your business. In the end, you answer to a higher power, humanity, and the fulfillment of your highest gift.