Life Isn't Promised So Get Busy Living
I try to limit the amount of bad news I take in everyday. It’s a bad habit I’ve eliminated in the last six months. It’s had a positive effect on me.
Too much bad news is not good for us because it brings us down. How much do you need to read about murders, robberies, and crimes?
I’ve stopped watching the local news. Half the time it’s about what’s bad about the city and the country.
However when the tragedy is huge, it’s hard to not read or watch it. Like when the huge earthquake hit Japan or 9/11. I followed every breaking moment.
Recently there’s all these crazy tornados doing massive destruction. First one tore through Tuscaloosa, AL last month then this month one devastated Joplin, MO.
Photo by Mercy Health
A tornado, like earthquakes, are scary cause it comes unexpectedly and is so powerful. It comes so quickly that you just have minutes to prepare. People describe the sound like a train or a jet engine.
Minutes go by and then it’s gone but not before destroying everything in its path.
When news breaks like the events I’ve mentioned, I’ll end up reading all about it and come across stories of survival and death. I try to limit the latter. It bothers me for so long but I’m drawn to reading them. What it does is puts everything in perspective.
This past weekend I read one article that again proves how promising futures can be gone in an instant.
Gone in an Instant
Saturday a headline on Yahoo caught my attention about a husband who saved his wife’s life. There was a video report of her describing what happened.
When the tornado ripped through their house, he covered her and took the brunt of the damage. When it was over, she looked at him and he was turning blue. He died before an ambulance came.
They were married six years and had planned to start a family. She said, “he was my hero”.
Below that article was the story of a high school student driving home from his graduation with his dad. The young man had a bright future. He had a Youtube channel that had over 1.5 million views. He was to start film school in the fall.
Instead the tornado hit. Their car flipped over. The dad tried hard to hold onto his son but his son’s seatbelt snapped and he ejected out of the sunroof. The dad survived but the only thing left from his son was his cellphone and graduation cap.
Those aren’t the only two that have tragically passed. From the infants to the elderly, hundreds have faced the same tragic ending from these tornados. Those two stories were enough for me. It’s heartbreaking.
Don’t Take Life for Granted
After reading it, I started thinking that life can be taken from us at any moment. I hate thinking like that but it’s true. I wanna think we are all invincible and go peacefully one day. That’s not how life works.
This post isn’t meant to depress you. It’s meant to make you realize that you’re still alive. You’re reading these words in front of your computer. It’s a wonderful gift.
A couple weeks ago a guy warned of the end of the world. It was received with ridicule as it should have been. There’s no date for the end of the world.
The end of our life has no warning sometimes. It can be sudden with no chance to say goodbye. The only fact is that our life will end at some point. That’s what’s guaranteed.
How do you want to be remembered?
Photo by subharnab
So from this point till that time, how will you live your life?
What type of person do you want to be?
A positive one that touches so many people? Or one that just sleepwalks through life doing unimportant things?
Think about the type of legacy you want to leave. When you’re at your last stages of life and you look back at the memories in your life, how do you want to remember it?
Sitting behind a desk doing uninspired work for just a paycheck?
What are the memories you want to have? Healthy, happy and loving? Or unhealthy, stressed out and full of regret?
The choice is yours. What’s happened in the past is done. Your future is up to you. If you’re starting to do great things with your life. Keep going. Build momentum. If you’re deciding for the right moment, make that moment today.
Don’t live life cautiously to be safe. Live life out of your comfort zone to feel alive.
Every Day is a Gift
I’m the hardest person to buy presents for on my birthday. More stuff doesn’t make me much happier. So my family saves money.
Instead since I’ve been doing my 30 day gratitude journal, I feel like every day is my birthday because I am thankful to enjoy another day of my life. Reading stories of promising lives cut short make me truly appreciate I’m alive.
Instead of one birthday present a year, I like the sound of 365 presents better.
How do you want to be remembered?
Are you working towards living a life that you’re proud to talk about?
Was this post useful to you?
(Update: My friend Paul mentioned in the comments an article he read called “The top 5 regrets people make on their deathbeds”. Worth a few minutes to read it)
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