What does your great great great Grandfather, Abraham Lincoln, Kurt Kobain, David Bowie, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Ted Bundy have in common? In this instance the obvious answer is the correct one. They’re all dead.
Not to sound morbid this morning or to bring everyone down, but I’m making these comparisons to make a point. This is Easter weekend where we celebrate the one who died for us and rose again 3 days later. When we think about our lives and the divisions we have racially, politically, work-wise, gender, what sports teams we root for, we all have one thing in common: we will all die.
Again, here I go with the ghoulish talk. The message I want to convey is while we all will die at some point, it’s what we do with that life in there “between the dashes” that matters. I heard a survey on the news yesterday that said that the majority of Gen Z’ers would rather be unemployed than be unhappy in their job. While I don’t agree 100% with this, I understand the sentiment. Why waste time being unhappy if there’s something better?
My wife and I have an ongoing argument where she wants to go places and do things to the house, and I worry about the financial aspects. It causes a lot of tension and ultimately either we don’t do whatever it is and save money, or she does it anyway and tells me later. Either way isn’t healthy. I’m learning to let go of the control I think I need to have and am learning that experiences that we might have are far more important than saving a few bucks here and there. Why not live life while we can? We don’t know when it might be over. We are not promised tomorrow.
My advice is this. If you’re not happy where you are in life, why are you wasting that time wishing for something else? Don’t march into your boss’s office and tell him to shove it and walk out. Rather, start today and make a plan. Set your goals, implement your plan, and go after what you really want. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do and work that job that maybe isn’t that fulfilling because you’ve got people depending on you. You have to support your family or even society as a whole (isn’t that deep?). Even then, you can put in the effort nights and weekends and get to where you want to be.
Start today. Tomorrow won’t wait for you, and if your day comes before mine, say hi to Ted Bundy for me.
I don’t think you’re being morbid at all. Death is the one thing you CAN count on happening. It’s the guarantee that you’re born with. So make things count until then, right??
I find myself in similar situations with my own wife, and she always makes a great point when she says “you can’t take the money with you when you die”. Which is true. But money in the bank can ensure some safety for life’s unexpected events in the intermediary. It can be argued infinitely.
Another thought someone shared with me that your post reminded me of: you shouldn’t always worry if the grass is greener on the other side. Water your own grass. I know that excludes a lot of circumstances and grey areas, but it certainly added a new way to look at situations, too!
Great post!!
The older I get, the more I tend to value the experiences in life rather than the things I can own. That is why I am pursuing voiceover at this late stage of life. It would have been much better if I had started earlier, but I know now more than ever that our opportunities are ever diminishing and we don’t get to know in advance when our timer runs out. Carpe diem!