Have you ever pondered upon this question: What is true freedom?
At the age of 94, Buffett gave an unexpected yet exceptionally genuine response in an interview with The Wall Street Journal yesterday.
He said that he had finally decided to step down as the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, and for the first time publicly admitted: "My body is starting to fail me."
Buffett's original words were: "I didn't really start to feel old until I was around 90 years old. But once I started to age, this change was irreversible." He said that he would occasionally lose his balance, sometimes he couldn't remember people's names, and the words in the newspaper were no longer as clear as before.
These subtle changes, over the past year, gradually accumulated into a decision - to hand over the CEO position of Berkshire Hathaway to Greg Abel, the successor he had chosen.
But he wasn't really planning to retire completely. He went on to explain: I won't just sit at home watching soap operas.
My interests remain the same. I still go to the office every day and work with the people I like.
From this sentence, what I see is that when a person truly makes their passion a lifelong career, that is the ultimate freedom.
Buffett's "retirement" is not about leaving; rather, it's about changing the way he is present.
He didn't retire because he was eliminated by time. Instead, he chose to stay because his love for it was too deep, and he didn't want to completely abandon it.
Buffett's situation reminds us that true freedom is never about escaping something, but about having the ability to choose to stay.
The ultimate form of freedom is to find the things that one is willing to do at the age of 94.
You don't have to be him, but he will still remind you: We will all eventually grow old. But aging should not mean stepping down from the stage; rather, it should signify a higher-level way of living after the passion has settled.
It's not about which industry you are in or how much money you make, but whether you are willing to always "be present" - constantly thinking, constantly expressing, and constantly engaging with the world.
Even if you don't have to provide the final result, you still are willing to contribute your effort.
Even if no one can see it, you still choose to keep going.
