Curiosity Didn't Kill the Cat
Curiosity made the cat go on adventures, take risks, explore, build and create cool things, and live nine fulfilling lives.
It’s only when the world told the cat to sit still, play nice, and stop wanting anything more that the real danger crept in.
The cat was tamed to serve a different purpose.
We’re told to pick paths, careers, partners, life ideologies, locations... long before we’ve actually experienced enough to make an honest informed choice… and who do those limited choices benefit most? Usually not us.
The harm isn’t in wondering what’s out there… it’s in pretending we don’t (or can’t) care anymore.
Consider being handed just three boxes and told to pick your favorite, maybe one of them strikes your fancy… makes your heart race… but nobody ever tells you there’s a warehouse out back that has all the best stuff in it… what a dirty trick! It’s a trap!
Well, most do exactly that… they choose from a small sample group that they had access to, and then they live entire decades convinced they’ve made a well informed choice, when in reality, they’ve only accepted one.
You Knew What You Wanted…
They say “the heart knows” … but for me, it’s kind of like… that gut feeling inside that always pushed me since a young age to tell friends and family what I would and wouldn’t do with my life… I think the soul knows.
But one by one… those soulful desires get pushed down to meet soul sucking expectations and traditions.
Get the “normal” job… fill the normal roles… make everyone happy except myself, but then convince myself that I’m fulfilled… even though I constantly feel the need to escape.
Then we’re taught to be loyal to our “first” decisions... to double down on what we said we wanted when we barely knew anything at all or just accepted things as is. But was that really our “first” plan, or was it simply the first one where we knew others agreed, wanted to hold us to it, or didn’t try to make us feel guilty for wanting?
Our new docile tamed purpose starts to build walls that get harder to see the longer we live inside them.
If you’re not careful, those walls will shrink and become your whole world...
And there is a part that comes later that really hurts...
You see someone out there has the life you always knew you would’ve loved.
Someone else built “your” business idea years after you had it, and made millions.
Someone else is living proof that another path was real…
but you still aren’t on it... not because it wasn’t available, or unreachable…
but because you stopped trying.
But its never too late to start again.
Stay Curious and Stay Inspired
Maybe the entire problem isn’t that you’ve been stuck or failing or aren’t smart or courageous enough... but that you’ve never actually given yourself permission to be truly curious and risky again.
Last week’s article by Ani talked about the 5 people around you, and how important it is to curate ones who inspire… it’s obvious to me now that if you are the only curious risk taker of the bunch, it’s going to be hard to feel inspired. The others closest to you have their own personal fears & limitations, which eventually start to become yours.
The good news? It’s not too late. You owe it only to yourself to at least see what else is out there, even if you don’t start a new project, or make any big life, career, or location changes. But you might…
They seem like opposite thoughts, but we can actually be both thankful for what we have or have had, and also look forward to something totally different, it’s ok, really.
But lose curiosity, and we’ll spend the rest of our life defending a version of ourself that doesn’t even dream anymore…
What would our younger selves think of that? Mine would be very upset with me.
So make sure you have people in your life who encourage dreaming for more, and don’t be held back by the limitations of others. That could have been the missing piece all along.
I now realize it’s part of the reason Rebel Speakeasy exists… to curate an environment where true curious rebels can hopefully find others. It’s not for everyone, and that’s ok…
I’ve come to realize we’re even more rare than I thought at first.
Not Everyone Has it, and That’s Fine
Genuine curiosity… the risky kind… the kind that makes you leap... hop on a plane, launch that project that might just become another graveyard, but find all the answers to “what if”… It’s a huge part of that thing tugging at your soul that makes you feel like you were meant for more.
And if we have it, for us, it’s the signal that we’re still alive… still thinking… still open…
and still have plenty of potential and possibilities in front of us, no matter our age.
True curiosity isn’t a quirk… it’s not a phase, and it’s not something you grow out of once you’ve picked your path.
In fact, as I grow older, I start to realize that my curious younger self who asked questions that nobody else dared, took everything apart, and never wanted to settle for “normal” might have been the one who loved me the most… and I think it’s time to love him back.
Because the true value of a life isn’t in its length, but in the good moments collected from birth to death… in genuine human connections and experiences… and the best ones are hidden.
All the good stuff is like treasure, buried under masses of ordinary, out there waiting for us…
and we have to be the ones brave and curious enough to dig them up.
Alright, that was all for now Rebel.
By the way… only a few know where the Rebel Speakeasy is. And now you’re one of them—grab a drink and let’s talk. We meet every Wednesday in live audio spaces on X.
Hope to see you there!
- Ani & Rick
RebelSpeakeasy.com by Ani • Rick
Find us on X @NFTrebels & @unl0c7