There are two forms of art:

The art of addition. The artist takes a blank canvas and, with careful brush strokes, adds paint to the empty space, creating a masterpiece.

The art of subtraction. The artist takes a block of stone and carefully removes unwanted pieces of rock, revealing the masterpiece that was already there.

Likewise, there are two halves to life:

The first-half of life is consumed by addition. Finding a purpose. Gaining qualifications. Adding skills. Setting and achieving goals. Chasing opportunities. Forming an image, brand and persona. Acquiring experiences. Building an impressive CV. Life’s first-half is often shaped by a drive to add to the blank canvas that we’ve been given.

The danger with the first-half of life is that we can unintentionally create a false-self, a shadow-self. We can become ‘mask wearers’ who feel the pressure to project an image of success (or even perfection) and then waste too many years maintaining that image.

The second-half of life begins when we embrace subtraction, when we willingly remove the mask so that our true-self can be revealed. It was always there, we just needed to subtract all that we’ve added to our lives that has prevented our true-self being seen.

When we unmask, when we remove the pressure of image creation, when we take away the need to look successful, we can relax. We stop worrying about what people think of us. Our failures don’t destroy us because we’re no longer trying to be perfect.

The second-half of life is a life of subtracting the things that don’t really matter so that we can finally become the person that was actually there all along.

At that point, the pressure’s off and we can truly live!