In March of 2022, Everything Everywhere All At Once came to theaters. And now, in March of 2023, it re-released in theaters, now with eight Oscar wins.

Like literally millions of people, I was convinced to watch this movie by the bombardment of positive reviews I saw online, and like literally millions of people I felt every possible emotion in its two hour and nineteen minute runtime.

It’s hard to contextualize anything in this movie if you haven’t watched it yet. It’s a movie about the multiverse, and the absurdity of life, and the power of love, and so much more that I don’t think I can write out. Just know that this movie is crazy and at any given moment, everything is happening everywhere, all at once. 

Except for one scene. 

Picture me watching this movie for the first time. The last hour of my life has been spent watching one of the busiest movies I’ve ever seen, until I’m faced with this one scene of two silent rocks in a desert. And so little is happening. They’re having a conversation through text as rocks in a universe where conditions were never right to form life.

But my head is buzzing because of what they’re saying through the silent dialogue. It’s something about how life is meaningless, and we as people are all so small and stupid that nothing we do matters. 

But everything we do matters.

I think, especially today, we are constantly bombarded with this sentiment of an ultimately meaningless existence. When it feels like everyday a new galaxy is being discovered or someone who we’ll never be is doing something outstanding, it’s easy to stop caring about the things in our own little lives. 

And for me, this feeling is particularly strong during this time of year when it feels like there’s so much to do yet I have no motivation to do any of it. I’m buried under a pile of work and my own pessimism. Nothing I do matters in the grand scheme of things, so why should I bother with anything?

But, ideas like the ones from this movie remind me of the meaning we all inherently hold. Yeah, maybe what we do won’t matter in a hundred years, but in this place, at this time, what we do matters at least to us and the people around us.

So be kind, do what makes you happy, enjoy life. 

Just be a rock.