Over his seven years as host of “The Daily Show,” Trevor Noah brought us laughter and valuable insights, even with a pandemic and political upheaval. He made such a positive mark that the announcement of his departure from the show came as bittersweet news to fans.
During an interview with Hoda Kotb of “Today,” Trevor Noah gave further explanation to his personal decision to leave, and in typical Noah fashion, it touched on something universal in the process.
“I realized during the pandemic,” he told Kotb, “everyone talks about a ‘work-life balance.’ But that almost creates the idea that your work and your life are two separate things. When in fact, I came to realize during the pandemic that it’s just a ‘life-life balance.’ It’s just your life.”
He continued, “Your life doesn’t stop because you are working. And so, if you wanna make more time for family, if you wanna make more time for friends and what you wanna do, and everything … find a way to create that time. Time is the one thing we cannot increase.”
For Noah, creating more time for what was important to him meant changing his career focus. For other people, it might look like incorporating different work hours, outsourcing help or simply cutting out activities that don’t really provide growth or comfort. There are endless possibilities, depending on what someone’s priority is, and often these priorities change at different chapters in our life. But one thing never changes—we never know how much time we have on this planet, so it’s best to use it in a way that is fulfilling.
And if you’re confused as to what might be fulfilling, Noah has a trick: find what feels scary. “Anything worth doing should scare you. I will be scared to do the next project, hopefully.”
No matter what project is on the horizon for Noah, he is bound to bring us something to both smile and think about.
You can watch the full interview below: