“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.” – so wrote William Shakespeare.

I was never one for poetry or literature in my school days, so the works of William Shakespeare were a chore. I preferred the real facts and figures of maths and science.

But as I get older, facts and fiction collide. And I get the feeling that the really good story tellers have a better insight into life than the even the best of the scientists.

Life is an act, and we do play many parts. Not only do we play different parts as our lives transition from a playful toddler to a shuffling relic, we have different acts on a daily basis.

Many of us become quite unrecognisable to each other when we meet in a setting without our lycra gear and our bikes. It is just not the clothing and attachments that makes the disguise so effective… it is that we become different people ‘off the bike’.

We are great actors because it is a stage that we are born into and there is nothing else to do but act. That means that everything in life is ‘make believe’ – and the better the acting, the more real it becomes…… And the more celebrated we become.

Movies are defined by the quality of the acting and the make believe. And movies are one of the better analogies of life – closely followed by books. It is all just a work of fiction served up as entertainment.

All our lives we entertain and we like to be entertained. There really is not much else. This is the ultimate conclusion that I have come to after searching for the ‘meaning of life’ through science, religion, and philosophy.

I get up in the morning and I put on my lycra, jump on my bike and I become the bicycle racer. It can be pretty serious stuff, but very quickly it comes to an end and I shower and dress up to be a roofer. But in the meantime, my grandson comes to visit and it he sees me as ‘grand daddy- the play thing’. And for a short while, I play a grand dad.

To each person I meet as the day goes on, I put on a different act. My wife and children get different treatment to my clients. The beggar on the street gets $5 from me and he thinks that I am either a sucker or a saviour. But I am really just another ‘extra’ in his movie, and I am just meant to keep his story alive.

… And what happens when we are done acting on this stage we call “My Life”?

It really does not matter. When Tom Cruise finished ‘Mission Impossible”, I am sure there was more joy than tears. He just goes on to act in more movies – some better than others.

But while Tom was doing the mission impossible, he was doing the best acting. That is all we have to do in the stage that we call “My Life”. Just act.

I spent a lot of time looking for “My authentic Self”. There is none. It is all an act.