I wake up each morning and tell myself that everything I thought was true is no longer true. It sounds extreme, but this mentality has kept me grounded for years.
The idea first came to me in a college seminar. The teacher brought in her pet turkey and explained how most turkeys wake up each day with no thought for their mortality. Every day is the same. Food arrives in high quantity, a bountiful meal full of fats and proteins that would be hard to come by in the wild. The routine is predictable and comfortable. Then one day, everything changes. That day is the day before Thanksgiving in the United States.
She was advocating for a vegan lifestyle, but I took the lesson from a different angle. I realized I was doing the same thing the turkey was doing. I was assuming that what happened yesterday would happen today. I was treating my assumptions as permanent when they were not. The world can shift without warning, and I needed to stop taking any day for granted.
Years later, a religious leader gave me similar advice. He told me to look in the mirror every morning and remind myself that none of this is true again. Then set out to prove it. Prove that my faith, my beliefs, my understanding of the world can hold up one more time. Not because I doubt them, but because I refuse to assume them.
This practice has served me well. It keeps me from coasting. It keeps me from mistaking comfort for certainty. Each morning becomes a chance to test what I think I know and to stay ready for the day when everything changes.
“I wake up each morning and tell myself that everything I thought was true is no longer true.”
I still think about that turkey. Not because I became vegan, but because I understood the warning. The danger is not in being wrong. The danger is in being so sure you are right that you stop paying attention. So I pay attention. I start each day as if it is new, because one day it will be.
The next step is simple. Tomorrow morning, look in the mirror and ask yourself what you are assuming. Then go prove it again.
