I Know That I Know Nothing

Dear Julia,

When I read your message, I felt a kind of quiet understanding, like you saw me, the real me, behind my words.

You asked how I’ve been, truly. The honest answer is it’s been a long journey. [Sensitive details removed]

The biggest lesson I’ve learnt, the one that finally brought me peace, is that the best life is life with no goals. I don’t mean living without direction, but rather freeing ourselves from the goals that society, culture, or others impose on us. So often, we give up joy, freedom, and even the self, chasing expectations that were never ours to begin with.

I’ve come to believe that everyone is born with a certain kind of gift. Some of us are thinkers, some are creators, some are builders, some are dreamers. Each gift comes with its own kind of happiness: people who love to think feel most alive when they are deep in thought; those who create joy in the act of creation itself.

Maybe the only meaningful aim in life is to protect and nurture these gifts, to follow where they naturally lead use, and to receive the happiness that comes from living in tune with them. That’s what we truly appreciate what it means to be human.

Success, I’ve realized, depends on so many things beyond us – timing, luck, the world’s mood. But joy depends only on one thing: whether we’re living in harmony with our own nature. And when we do, no matter what happens, life feels whole and beautiful.

This is my story. I hope, in some way, you find something in it that speaks to your own path, too.

Best wishes,

Xinyue

Sept 2025

Houston

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