Have you ever stopped to think about how many people you meet in your lifetime – and how each one, in their own quiet way, shapes who you are?
I came across an article recently that really made me pause. It said that on average, we live about 78 years, and we start remembering people from around the age of five. If you live in a city and meet even just three new people a day – on the street, at work, in line for coffee – that adds up to roughly 80,000 people over a lifetime. Eighty thousand stories, faces, conversations, brief exchanges.
Of course, we don’t really get to know all those people. Some become part of our inner circle – friends, family, maybe even soulmates. But most of them are what I like to call “passers-by.” The people who cross our path for just a moment – the stranger in the supermarket, the barista who remembers your order, the person humming next to you on the bus. They come and go quietly, but sometimes, if you’re paying attention, they leave something behind.
A year ago or so, I was in Los Angeles, standing in line at a small phone shop waiting to get a SIM card. A woman behind me started a conversation out of nowhere by saying how much she liked my little purple backpack. I smiled – it’s funny, because that backpack cost me less than five dollars in Malaysia years ago. She couldn’t believe it; said it looked much more expensive. We kept chatting until it was my turn to be helped, and then we went our separate ways. Just a short, passing moment.
But it stuck with me. That brief exchange reminded me that price and value are not the same thing. You can spend thousands on something that ends up meaning very little, and you can pay almost nothing for something that stays with you for years – something that becomes part of your story. And I realized that this applies not just to things, but to people, too. Some of the most valuable connections in life come from the simplest, most unexpected encounters.
The truth is, nothing in life happens without reason. Every conversation, every question, every random meeting might be there to teach you something – if you’re open to noticing it. Maybe the stranger you pass reminds you to smile more. Maybe someone’s kindness inspires you to do better. Or maybe someone’s anger reminds you that you don’t want to live with that kind of weight.
Life, much like travel, is a constant movement. The sun rises and sets, seasons change, people come and go – but even when the pattern repeats, nothing is ever exactly the same. And that’s the beauty of it. Every day, every encounter, every fleeting moment has something to show you, something to remind you of, something to learn from.
So next time you’re going about your day, whether you’re halfway across the world or just standing in line somewhere, look around. Notice the people. Smile at a stranger. Listen when someone talks to you out of the blue. You never know what tiny piece of wisdom or reminder life is handing you in that moment.
Because in the end, it’s the people, the long conversations, the brief exchanges, the quiet passers-by, who colour our days, teach us lessons, and make life infinitely richer.
And if you enjoy finding meaning in these small, everyday encounters, you might like my travel memoirs. Each of them captures not just the places I’ve been, but the people I’ve met, the little stories and moments that, in their own way, remind us what really matters.