Where Are We Starting From? / How-To’s vs. What For’s in a Life Worth Living

Wherever you look, there’s no shortage of people trying to sell you their plans and strategies—their hacks and tips—the “how to’s” that will change your life, promising success and getting whatever you want.

But behind every “how to,” there’s an implicit “what for”: an assumption about what’s worth pursuing.

So all the “how to be happy,” “how to be healthy,” and “how to live longer” content out there is telling us this: a good life is a Long, Happy, Healthy life.

But there’s something more—something higher or deeper or richer—something worth wanting more than our own health, happiness, or longevity.

Lecturer at Yale College and Life Worth Living Co-Founder, Ryan McAnnally-Linz challenges the “long, happy, healthy” vision of flourishing in this this chapter-by-chapter video curriculum series based on his bestselling book (with Matt Croasmun and Miroslav Volf), Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most.

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Transcript

Wherever you look, there’s no shortage of people trying to sell you their plans and strategies—their hacks and tips—the “how to’s” that will change your life. Some promise career success.

Some promise they’ll help you get whatever you want.

But a ton of them are about happiness, health, and longevity:

“Seven tips to live a happier life” on TikTok

“9 ways to get healthier without trying very hard” on NPR

The Science and Art of Longevity on the Amazon bestseller list

Long, happy, and healthy are everywhere.

Now, “How to’s” are all about effective strategies.

But behind every “how to,” there’s an implicit “what for”: an assumption about what’s worth pursuing.

So all the “how to be happy,” “how to be healthy,” and “how to live longer” content out there is telling us this: a good life is a Long, Happy, Healthy life.

It’s not a hard idea to buy, is it?

After all, whose idea of the good life is “short, sad, and sickly”?

And yet, many of the lives we most admire didn’t meet the Long, Happy, Healthy standard.

Martin Luther King, Jr., risked his life rather than give up the fight for civil rights and justice. He was assassinated at just 39 years old.

Abraham Lincoln was chronically depressed, but he didn’t focus on improving his own happiness. He lived with the sadness and devoted himself to preserving the United States.

Many suffragettes suffered life-long health problems from the hunger strikes that helped win voting rights for women in the United Kingdom.

All these people, and others like them, put their health and happiness—and even their lives—at risk for the sake of something that mattered more.

It’s not that they make short, sad, and sickly look good. It’s that they make long, happy, and healthy look less important. There’s something more—something higher or deeper or richer—something worth wanting more than our own health, happiness, or longevity.

Something we can all too easily miss if we let the obviousness of Long, Happy, and Healthy distract us.

There’s an important lesson here. We all start from somewhere. We live in cultural and social contexts. And those contexts shape our instincts and intuitions. They make some visions of the good life seem obvious and others costly or weird or just hard to imagine.

So, where are you starting from? What visions of life worth living are influential in your world and your communities? Could they be blinding you to what truly matters most?

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