The unfathomable odds you’re alive

Most people wake up every morning and flow through life in a rather casual manner.

We stick to the morning routine. We do what’s comfortable. We live like we did yesterday and the day before.

In fact, we might even complain about minor inconveniences.

Another day at the office. Another day punching the clock. Another day engaging with the same boring office conversations.

We have so much to complain about.

Yet – have you ever thought about the fact that you’re a conscious being that just so happens to be alive at this specific moment of time while floating around on a hunk of rock inside of a space so big that the smartest people on the planet can’t even begin to understand its undefinable size?

Yeah, me neither.

Life Without Consent

While rewatching season 1 of the show Severance, a specific scene struck me.

Without spoiling anything and with very little context, I’ll try to put this conversation into perspective.

[A character] was talking to [another character] about how their “outside self” brought their “inside working self” into the world “without consent.”

And this was a big deal to them. They hadn’t thought about it like this before.

Regardless if this makes sense to you or not, I want to highlight an important point that struck me:

None of us were brought into this world with our personal consent.

We didn’t ask to be put on this planet. We didn’t expect to be born. We didn’t have any warning that we’d one day be alive on this planet and expected to contribute to society as a functioning adult.

Yet here we are.

Unfathomable Odds

Scientists state that there is a 1 in 400 trillion chance that you are born as a human on planet Earth.

Some say it’s a 1 in 10^2,685,000 chance. (Apparently that’s a 10 with 2,685,000 zeros behind it lol)

I’m no mathematician, but that’s a pretty freakin’ small chance.

In fact, I’d consider those to be the unfathomable odds that you’re alive. In the same way we can’t understand how big space is – our brains can’t quite understand just how ridiculous that number is.

And yet it’s so easy to go about our daily lives numb to the fact that we are nothing short of a miracle.

YOU won the life lottery.

Yes, you.

Now, just because you won the lottery of life does not mean that life is all sunshine and rainbows.

I never want to discount the fact that life is still difficult. Each of us must endure unique challenges that sometimes make our miraculous lives feel less magical.

But I do want to emphasize the fact that viewing life from this lens can put things into perspective.

Maybe our mundane lives aren’t so mundane after all.

Maybe the fact that you woke up today is more miraculous than miserable.

Maybe your life has more meaning and purpose than you realized.

The Lottery of Life

If you’re reading this, it’s not too late to make a change.

Every day that you wake up is a new opportunity to become what you want to become, to create what you want to create, and to live how you’re called to live.

And if you’ve been stuck in a rut of the boring routine, remember that you didn’t choose to be here.

Instead, you won the lottery of life.

And your life is a precious gift that’s meant to be lived to the fullest.

Are you gonna treat it as such?

Blessings! Have a great week.

–Eric Pfohl