One night, it came to me: I would start a business called oK. It was brilliant. A brand that didn’t sell you products or make you want anything - it simply acted as a mirror for you to look into and remember everything was going to be oK.
It didn’t all come in a single moment of inspiration though. Yes, as I was lying on the bed in my childhood room, home from college to do laundry, I experienced a rush of clarity as pieces fell into place. But the pieces hadn’t appeared out of nowhere. They had been gathered throughout my life of being obsessed with history, playing in nature, struggling against authority, losing hope in high school, finding it again as I left, writing constantly as I aspired to be a rapper, studying the spiritual traditions of the world while working and traveling, studying psychology and neuroscience, and coming to college where I started a club for people to express and explore their individuality.
The late-night eureka was followed by an early morning decision: I was going to drop out of college and start a business called oK. On one hand, it was the type of irrational decision only a privileged 20-year-old with a safety net and no understanding of business could make - forgo the security of college for a “business” with no idea how to build one and no actual desire to make money. On the other hand, it was a decision made by someone who had been desperately trying to understand themselves. I knew I had to follow my own path. I knew I had to try and change the world for the better. I knew it would be oK.