The first question I asked my father after he was told that he had three months left to live was: “Those 60 years you have had, were they good? Were you happy?”

Three months later, my father was still alive and kicking. He was a soldier and a fighter, and the most optimistic man I have ever known. He promised me that he would win this fight.

He did win, for a while. And then he didn’t. He died three years later, at the age of 63.

I was 27 years old; my son was almost four, and my daughter was eight months old. It always shocks me when I realize how much time has passed since then: that daughter is now 18. And to this day, my least favorite word is “malignant”.

I’m not telling you this to make you feel sad. I’m telling you this in the hope that you will glean from this story the one positive that I was able to take from the situation: My father’s death was a wakeup call for me – life is short. unpredictable. And too precious to waste on things that make you miserable.

And, for me, that one cup of coffee had everything to do with this lightbulb moment.

400 million cups of coffee a day are drank in the US alone. And the country comes in a lowly 8th in the world coffee consumption rankings. In first place? Finland.

Surprising, right?

As it turns out, all you need is one.. 😊.

I was six months into my year of mourning my father, sitting in my garden staring at the olive tree. Confused, I asked myself ‘if you have basically everything people dream of, why the hell aren’t you happy? What’s wrong with you?’.

And at that moment, I came to a simple realization: maybe this was someone’s dream life, but it was not mine.

I had got confused with the ‘life goals’ checklist. It was all a huge mistake.