You’re not going to believe me when I say this.

But the fact that you’re reading this article right now is a miracle.

Not because I’m going to drop some heavy insights on you.

Not because I’m being rewarded for your attention.

And no, not because you know how to read.

The mere fact that you even exist is a miracle.

I don’t care if you’re not religious, let’s put beliefs aside for a second.

I know the word “miracle” carries a lot of weight and evokes many religious connotations.

But I honestly can’t think of a better noun.

Chance just doesn’t cut it.

And luck is a dirty word that too many people have tarnished.

In this email, I’m going to show you why your existence is a one in an infinite event.

To emphasise my point, I’m going to go into my own family history.

People never think about this:

Without your ancestors, there would be no you.

Sure, this may seem obvious.

But have you really taken the time to think about it?

I don’t have much knowledge whatsoever of my great grandparents.

I don’t know what they did or how they lived their lives.

All I know is their existence would have been a monstrous struggle compared to

what you and I experience today.

No internet.

No bananas in December.

No central heating or electric toothbrushes.

My grandfather on my dad’s side was a soldier who fought in World War 2.

He was sent to Italy as an artillery gunner.

My dad told me he used to drink like a fish to try and deal with the stress of war.

He could have died.

Considering he was drunk most of the time, it’s a miracle he didn’t!

If he’d died, my father wouldn’t have existed.

Which in turn means, I wouldn’t have existed.

Thankfully my grandfather survived the war unscathed.

His liver probably took most of the damage.

After that brief but terrifying time, he got a job as an accountant for British Petroleum and was shipped off to Kuwait.

This is where he met my Irish grandmother.

I have no idea what she was doing there, but I’m delighted she was.

Random, right?

2 people from the British isles, meeting in the Middle East and raising two children.

My dad and my aunt.

My grandfather on my mother’s side was the youngest of 5 children.

The age gap between him and his oldest brother was over 20 years.

Plus, he was about 10 years younger than the sibling closest to him in age.

It’s safe to say, he wasn’t a planned baby.

If my great grandparents didn’t choose to get busy on the fateful night he was conceived, my mother wouldn’t have existed.

If my mother didn’t exist, I wouldn’t exist.

Is this beggining to make sense to you?

I don’t tell you all of this to structure an axiomatic argument.

I’m merely making a point.

So many things had to go right just for you to be here.

If someone in your ancient lineage had died at some unfortunate time, your

entire family history could have been wiped out in an instant.

Everything happened exactly as it needed to for you to be here today.

Granted, I’m not sure if I’m making the most sense right now.

This is an extremely dense topic and I’m not as articulate as Bertrand Russell or as intelligent as Nietzsche.

But this was a topic I had to dive into.

Next, I’m going to examine the lives of my parents.

The chances of these two people meeting is bizzare in itself.

My dad left the UK when he was only 21 years old and began teaching English in various African countries.

During the 1980’s, he accepted a job in Turkey and moved to Istanbul.

He’s been here ever since.

My mum on the other hand is 9 years younger than him and moved to Istanbul right after graduating university.

What are the chances of these two people moving to the same place and meeting?

Obviously I’m not saying this was meant to be or anything.

But it’s still bizarre.

Imagine if neither of my parents had ever gone to Istanbul.

I wouldn’t have existed.

I am a creation of these two people.

If either my mum or my dad had shacked up with different people, I wouldn’t exist.

Someone else would.

Isn’t that mental?

The fact that I’m here, typing these words, blows my mind.

My point in this email is to show you how fortunate your existence truly is.

You were in control of none of it.

And yet here you are.

I’ve shared my own family history to spark realisations about your own life.

The fact that your parents were able to come together to create you is incredible.

The fact that your grandparents were able to create your parents is even more astounding.

Billions of micro events all led to you being here.

From your parents, all the way back to your ancient ancestors.

If anything in that timeline goes wrong, you don’t exist.

I want you to take a minute and just think of your own family.

Contemplate how fortunate you are to exist right now.

So why am I writing about this?

Frankly, people are too busy complaining about how hard their lives are.

They have zero gratitude for the fact that they exist and it baffles me.

If they truly understood how lucky they are to even be here, they would never need anything else.

How could you possibly want anything more once you realise that you are one in an infinite?

Literally, if there was even the slightest hiccup in your genetic timeline, you wouldn’t be here.

Someone else would be here in your place.

You are a unique creation of your parents.

And in turn, they are unique creations of theirs.

You have no idea how special you are.

I’m not saying this to inflate your ego.

It’s the truth.

I genuinely believe that my existence is a miracle.

How couldn’t it be?

I’ve literally just explained all the things that had to happen for me to be here.

Calling it anything else would be folly.

Sure you can call it luck or chance.

But it’s the same thing.

I don’t care what label you put on it.

The facts don’t change.

This means that you can stop caring about things that don’t matter.

There’s no need to worry about how much money you make.

You don’t need to concern yourself with the negative thoughts of others.

You don’t need to do anything to try and impress anyone.

It’s a miracle that we’re all here in the first place.

No one can even fathom the alternative.

Nothingness.

No one thinks about this because they take their life for granted.

They don’t understand that the reason they’re here is because everything in their history went right.

If things had gone wrong, they never would have arrived.

I no longer listen to people who are needlessly negative about the world.

I don’t care what your beliefs are about the state of things, you have no right to complain about anything.

To say the world is burning and that everything is a mess isn’t true.

It’s mere hyperbole.

To say you don’t want to have children isn’t selfless, it’s selfish.

How could you possibly deny such a gift?

Not to the world, but to your child.

I’ve just explained how all life is miraculous.

Why wouldn’t you want to create your very own miracle?

My intention in this email was to remind you of the precious gift we’ve all been given.

It’s easy to get distracted by day-to-day tasks and meaningless activities.

It’s equally easy to become jaded with our lives and desire more.

But the fact is, you are lucky to be alive.

And seeing as we’re all here, we may as well have a good time.

Turn that frown upside down and start living life the way it’s meant to be lived.

Which is?

However you want to.

We’re here to make our own rules and live life in our own ways.

I’d prefer it if you live it as a kind and warm soul, but to each their own.

Understand that you don’t need to worry about anything.

As long as you’re here, you’re still a player in the game.

Money worries will fade away.

The problems you’re facing right now will be solved as soon as you decide to

address them.

And when you fully adopt this way of thinking, you’ll realise that your problems aren’t plaguing you.

Why?

Because it’s a gift that you even have such problems.

As long as you’re alive, no problem is unsolvable.

If you’re broke and want to get rich, you can learn how to make money.

If you’re shy and want to find love, you can learn the necessary social skills.

If you’re small and want to get big, there’s a gym in every neighbourhood.

You are so lucky to be alive.

And if you’ve internalised this message, my work here is done.