“The wise will always reflect on the quality not the quantity of life.” Seneca. Life . . . it’s short for some and long for many. It’s filled with joy and contentment for a few and struggle and heartache for others. I don’t care how old you are or how you act. What matters is simply we are all going to die at some point. Some of us are earlier than others and many will outlive our children. What is life anyway? Is it your possessions, your successes, or your relationships? Is it your lessons learned, your sense of charity, or your health in later years? Or, is it simply the fact that you were given life at some point and along the way you have chosen how to live it given the people in your life, the opportunities that crossed your path, or the trials and tribulations that allowed you to learn or whine? Many of my heroes over the years lived to their late nineties and a few passed away in their early forties and fifties. But one thing they all taught me was to cherish each day regardless of what it was filled with or who came into it or left it. I am no different or better or worse than any of you reading this. We all have been given the gift of today. What will you do with it is what matters.
“One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore.” Gide. As a previous sailor over the years (not in the navy but as a lover of taking my small sailboat out to the open waters) leaving the shore and not knowing where I would go or what I would experience along the journey made each trip an adventure. One, in particular, comes to mind. Many years ago a friend and I chartered a 45 ft. sailboat in the Caribbean for two weeks and just went from island to island with no specific plans. We just wandered for two weeks and along the way discovered so much about ourselves as well as the islands we visited. The two rules we agreed on as we left the slip on the first island were that we would not look back but only look forward to the next unknown adventure whatever form that took. And that whatever crossed our path would not let us let go of the thrill of not knowing where we were or the fear that we could not handle whatever we encountered. Now keep in mind that the weather in the Caribbean can be uncertain and that there are known pirates who have caused havoc in this part of the world for many years. At the end of the journey as we sailed back to shore on the original island we both shared a common thought – we wished we could have had more than two weeks on this adventure.
“Patience and diligence, like faith, remove mountains.” W. Penn. There are many emotions that we all can experience each day from basic worry, fear, and uncertainty about what lies around the next corner to excitement, anticipation, and wonder about what lies around the next corner. See the common issue here? In the end, the quality of our day is more the outcome of the emotions we choose to give to the events of the day than the description of the events themselves. For example. You were just told by your boss that you have been promoted and will need to move to a new state. Can this news be both good and or bad news for different people? Of course. What about the single person who is a vagabond and loves new experiences or the parent with three kids who love their current environment, friends, and school and spouse who is in a wonderful career situation? So it’s not the news that matters but how you choose to define, interpret and react to the news that life gives us. I could give you a million different examples but here is my point – the above three items in the quote can all be interpreted or defined differently and what matters is your definition of them and not just their general application to life’s circumstances.