It was just a few weeks ago that a patient asked me point blank, “Josh, why do you get up in the morning?”

After we laughed about the hassles of peeing in bed, I sheepishly answered that the reason I get out of bed in the morning is because I’m scared of what will happen if I don’t.

Here were some of the fears that I listed:

Fear of poverty-if I stay in bed my patients will not stay with me

Fear of hating myself-if I stay in bed I’ll feel like an idiot since everyone I know gets out of bed and does something with their lives.

Fear of feeling weird-I’ve been working since I was twelve or thirteen years old. My work ethic is still potent enough to get me moving.

Later on though, as I reflected on our discussion, I realized that I was a bit too hard on myself. I actually believe that I, and for that matter humanity, get out of bed because we want to. Lying in bed is boring and boredom in humans is literally deadly. Our unquenchable curiosity carries us forward into life even as we may be deathly afraid of life and its contents. Yes, that curiosity has gotten us into loads of trouble beginning with Eve’s wondering what that pretty fruit tasted like. Yet, it is that same wondering that makes us want to be a part of our individual dramas. In fact, our curiosity is what drives us with a frenetic ferocity towards the deepest of experience: God.