The legendary comedian Dave Chappelle was at the height of his career in 2006; he had dominated the art form for close to a decade, had his own eponymous show on Comedy Central & got offered a whopping $50M to do more seasons. And then, he abruptly quit and went to Africa for 8 years. The backstory is a lesson on letting go and focusing on what’s important. In his words:
“I watched one of these nature shows one time and they were talking about how a bushman finds water when it’s scarce, and they do what is called a ‘salt trap.’ I didn’t know this, but apparently baboons love salt. So, they put a lump of salt in a hole and they wait for the baboon. The baboon comes, sticks his hand in the hole, grabs the salt, the salt makes his hand bigger, and he’s trapped and can’t get his hand out. Now, if he’s smart, all he does is let go of the salt. The baboon doesn’t want to let go of the salt. Then the bushman grabs the baboon, throws him in a cage, and gives him all the salt he wants! Then the baboon gets thirsty, the bushman lets him out of the cage, the first place the baboon runs to is water, the bushman follows him, and they both drink to their fill. And in that analogy, I felt like the baboon, but I was smart enough to let go of the salt.”