Thanks to Derek Sivers for bringing my attention to Curt Vonnegut’s explanation of why we need drama in our lives.  Vonnegut said, “People have been hearing fantastic stories since time began. The problem is, they think life is supposed to be like the stories. Let’s look at a few examples.”

“But because we grew up surrounded by big dramatic story arcs in books and movies, we think our lives are supposed to be filled with huge ups and downs! So people pretend there is drama where there is none.”

Then of course there is the average American’s life.  It looks a little something like this:

I’ve spent many years of my life trying to avoid this last graph, and have done my best to live it instead of invent it.  It’s much harder than it looks.  Children, houses, furniture, etc., all try to draw you to the center.   I think it gives new meaning to the word, “flatline.”

Check out Derek Siver’s blog here.  He’s a cool Portland dude who built CD Baby in NoPo.