In The End

Brief: Talking with friends about life and death inspired some late night writing for me and this is the result. It covers the only things we actually own in this world and how precious time actually is. Writing this put a lot of things into perspective for me and I hope it does for you as well. 

At the end of it all, if you’re lucky enough to be old and grey. If you’re lucky enough to have seen generations pass and great people rise and fall. Ask yourself, what do you have at the end of it all? What do you have that nobody can take from you? Can you die in peace with all that you have?

I’ll tell you what you don’t have. You don’t have your overtime pay, your car, your house, or any material object, that at one point in your life held so much value. Everything you once owned could sink to the bottom of the ocean and it wouldn’t bother you. Every penny you busted your ass to earn could be in someone else’s bank account and you would think nothing of it. So ask yourself again, at the end of it all what do you really have? What do we all own that nobody can ever take from us?

The answer is simple, the Memories in your mind and the Love in your heart. That’s it. Everything you’ve ever done, everyone you’ve ever loved, they all make up these moments. Little flashes in time that our minds hold on to when we were happiest, most afraid or excited. We remember these times because they stand out above all the other boring and mundane things we do everyday. We forget what we ate for lunch 3 days ago but remember our 1st day of school, or 1st kiss. If you think about your greatest memory, it’s probably only a 2-3 second chunk of time in your mind. When you realize how valuable a single second can be, the potential that second holds, you cherish them more. Any given second of any given day could be solidified in your mind as a life long memory.

See life can be full of stand out moments if we let it. We’re so lucky to be alive right now, at this time in the worlds evolution. The opportunities we have are seemingly endless! Yet the majority of us CHOOSE to stay in the same place, work a job we don’t enjoy for a company we don’t care about, wearing uncomfortable clothing all day and we wait for the 2 day escape that is the weekend. There are no memories in that routine, nothing stands out. Our lives turn into nothing but I big grey chunk of time that comes and goes without anyone stopping to realize what a waste it was.

Time is just like any other precious asset. If you’re, for whatever reason, gifted with an abundance of it, you only truly see its value once it begins to run out. The time we waste doesn’t hold any weight in our minds until our time is limited. That’s the thing, TIME is forever, but we sometimes seem to forget that WE are not. Every second that passes is 1 more second you are no longer in control of and 1 second less you have to live. I don’t seriously need to tell you that right? Your fancy, number shaped birthday balloons and the amount of candles on your cake might increase every year but you know your life clock isn’t counting up right? It’s counting down….picture that. Does it scare you? Seeing your time wither away? Every second that passes, a missed opportunity. It scares me, but I know that if I fill as many of those seconds with moments of happiness, or excitement or love or terror, at the end of it all, I can look back and be ok with my clock winding down because I’ll know I didn’t waste my time.

It’s up to you to choose how your time will be spent and it will pass regardless of how you choose to do so. We as a people are giving up too easily, settling too often, and realizing the errors in our ways far too late. You have to realize your potential and embrace the change, don’t fear it. Break the mould, create memories and love as much as possible. Don’t determine wealth by the amount of commas in your bank account. Count yourself wealthy by the life you live, the love you have, and the memories you create. Don’t wait for anything to come to you, if you want it, go get it. It won’t be there forever and you won’t be here forever. Don’t waste your time, each and every second is so valuable, remember that. you get 1 chance at this life. Eventually it’s gonna come to an end for us all. Your challenge is to make it a life worth living. A life filled with as many of those special moments that, no matter how they made you feel, you’ll never forget. We are so lucky to even be alive, we owe it to ourselves to make what limited time we have great.

So ask yourself again,

At the end of it all what will I have? Can I die in peace with all that I have.