There must be more to life than this.

How many times, by how many people, in how many languages and places had said this?

Too many too count…

How many had thought it during another unending discussion in a windowless conference room about a policy that no one cared about and no one would remember three months from now?

Too many for a focus group…

How many had screamed it into the silence of their darkened apartments after a dozen hours of thankless work for faceless entities that couldn’t even be bothered to learn their names?

Too many to ignore…

How many had whispered it before a smile crept over their faces and they walked away from everything they thought they were told they needed, wanted, had to have?

Too few…

…but one fewer, Maggie thought to herself as she raised a hand to her mouth to cover her grin. No one grinned at the droning tone which her manager reported the quarter budget numbers. She circled tomorrow’s date in her planner. One more day. A lifetime, a blink, a promise, a goal that had nothing to do with reallocating budget lines and increasing the ROI for the SEO of yet another product that no one needed.

There must be more to life than this…

…and a feeling, tingling, different from the low-grade dread and anxiety that sat like sludge in her belly each day appeared. At first, she was worried, but then Maggie had to cough to cover the laugh that threatened to interrupt the meeting.

There must be more to life than this…

…yes, there is, she yelled triumphant in her head.

And her soul whispered back…

Life starts now.