One of the lucky ones

The last time I had a proper birthday party—where you invite your friends—was pre-COVID. And my group of friends was, and is, eclectic. Individuals from all walks of life, many of whom are being authentic to themselves. In many cases, they are people who have looked at restrictions placed on them by society or norms and decided that they were not going to be limited. They were going to be genuine. And they are all, at heart, caring, decent, honourable people.

Because I never limited myself based on others’ expectations—drivel that I’ve heard over the years such as ‘Asians shouldn’t get involved in politics’ or ‘You’re doing a commerce degree? In accounting, right?’, or even ‘No one will ever read a magazine online’ or ‘No New Zealand company makes fonts’—I’m happier as a result.

The same people who questioned their limits are the same people I call my friends.

Quite often we were the odd bods at school, the geeks, the freaks, the immigrants who didn’t speak English as our first language, the unusual set—and as adults we turned out to be the happy ones, not up tight, not restricted, and more free.

When I read biographies and autobiographies of successful people, oftentimes they fall into the same category.

When I caught up with one of my oldest friends in London, we picked up where we left off, and we could have deep conversations about both simple and intelligent topics. My father always said having that one friend was rare. And he was right.

When you choose your partner in life, of course it is founded on love. And it shouldn’t be hard work—and for Amanda and me, it never is. And with her, too, I found someone who didn’t wind up following a boring path in life, but chose to do her own thing.

The important things in life aren’t things that you can buy. They are the people in your life. You also need an incredible amount of blessings to have had parents and a grandmother who encouraged you every step of the way. You also need an incredible amount of luck—or good judgement—to find those friends. I’m glad I did.


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