With lost hope and despair in her eyes, the patient sadly declares, “I just don’t see the point.”
The doctor asks, “In what?”
After a brief pause, the doctor continues, “There is no point. Or, at least, big picture, we don’t get to know what it is. Why we live…”
The patient replies with concern, “You’re not reassuring me doctor.”
The doctor asserts, “I can’t reassure you. This idea you have, that there’s a way to be safe, it’s childish and cowardly. It stops you from experiencing anything, including anything good.”
The patient argues with tears in her eyes, “You don’t think I feel bad enough already? I know I’m messed up, but you’re supposed to teach me how not to be…”
The doctor finally gives her a dose of reality, “You know how. Stop waiting for life to be easy. Stop hoping for somebody to save you. You don’t need another person lying to you. Things don’t all add up, but you are resilient. Face some hard facts and you could have an incredible life.”
These are lines from the incredible movie To the Bone.
Lily Collins is impeccable in the role of a 20 year old woman Ellen with anorexia nervosa and Keanu Reeves stars as Dr. William Beckham.
Like Ellen, I have constantly grappled with questions like,
“What’s the purpose of life, What’s the point of living when we are all going to die, do I matter – really matter in the grand scheme of things? Why not just die now than keep living…”
At one point, NOT knowing answers to these questions made me lose interest in life.
And maybe if I had gotten a similar dose of reality, it would have probably jolted me out of my bubble of self-denial and self-pity a lot sooner.
Eventually, I embraced acceptance.
I may never know the answers to my questions nor may others be able to answer them, but that’s okay.
My life may well end up being totally insignificant and meaningless. That’s okay.
Eventually, I realized that it’s entirely up to me to choose the meaning of life and NO ONE can do it for me.
Here’s an interesting comment from one of the viewers of the clip,
Lisa Doherty: “So bizarre. There’s no point to anything, but you can have an incredible life?”
And here was a fantastic reply from another.
StarStreak: “It’s sound logic. By there not being any point to life, we are free to choose it’s meaning to ourselves, and make that our point of being.”
Bingo.
You can make your life as meaningless or meaningful as you want it to be… and you will be right either way.
Now it’s your turn.
Have you ever had similar thoughts about life and wondered what the point is? How do you choose to give meaning to your life?
Share your comments below.