Zest for Life

Originally published in my old blog in September 2008.

What is Zest? The word seems to have so much cash value that it screams to be captalized. Cash value not in the sense of material riches, but in the sense of exhilaration, exuberance, ecstaticness and emotional/intellectual/spiritual well-being. We all desire it. We all need more of it. Can I have another please(?) is our unaninimous reaction when confronted with full frontal versions of it.

I suppose Zest can be applied to anything, but the word itself seems to have such a general applicability that any specific instance immediately generalizes into Zest for Life. Unbridled enthusiasm. Insatiable curiosity. Laser focus. Prolific creativity All of these things are instances of Zest in action.

Perhaps we mere mortals can only hope to approach the kind of Zest with adjectives removed from the prior paragraphical examples. Maybe the unbridled, insatiable, laser, prolific-ness is only symbolic in nature along the lines of abstract types we can only hope to glimpse fleetingly a few times in a life.

If we cannot ever possess the ultimate Platonic abstraction of Zest, what can we do to continue as in Zeno’s paradox toward the goal in infinitely smaller increments without ever arriving so that the journey is an end in itself? What promotes it? What extends it? What broadens or deepens it? Whatever these things are, we need to maintain a constant, steady awareness so that we do not miss the rare opportunities that present themselves.

At the risk of sounding trite, a few examples: paint like a painter, run like a runner, play like a musician, dance like a dancer, speak like an orator, write like a writer, play like a child, lead like an executive. Do all these things from where you are right now with the ultimate abstract model firmly attached to your subconcious mind and you will sometimes discover Zest.

To explore the negative, how can we avoid killing Zest? Avoid negative thinking? Banish laziness? Kill superficial analyses? Spurn repetition beyond necessity and reasonableness? Assassinate hatred? Embrace spontaneity and change?

Writing this short essay has helped me realize my own Zest-ful shortcomings and helped me resolve to do better in the future. I hope reading it has done the same for you.