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“Life is like a taxi. The meter just keeps a-ticking whether you are getting somewhere or just standing still.”
Lou Erickson
It has been said, “you never know what you have until you lose it, and once you lose it, you can never get it back”. This saying has been overly used with reference to failed relationships and friendships that went downhill, among others. Indeed we human beings have a tendency of taking for granted the people and the things in our lives and it is not until they are gone that we realise their significance. But it is also said that time heals all wounds. Eventually, we make new friends, and build new relationships. In some cases better than what we lost, in others, not so much. Although we do not exactly replace our loses, in the end, we all manage to move on one-way or another.
I believe the only loss that is impossible to get back or compensate in any way is that of life. Both of those we love and our own. When we lose those we love, we have no choice but to eventually accept the loss and be thankful for the life lived, as hard as it may be. When it comes to our own life, when the end comes, we do not get a chance to turn things around and do things differently. We do not get the chance to re-live our life, to re-take every opportunity we failed seize and use it as a stepping-stone to achieve our goals. At least not in this life.
It is 3:46am; it has been roughly four hours since I picked up my laptop to watch movies and series. I enjoy watching the drama unravel in VH1’s Love & Hip-Hop and I even have a favourite Salvatore brother in the Vampire Diaries. A couple of days back I’d be up at the same time heading back home from a party. I have assignments to complete and exams to prepare for if I am to graduate with the First Class Honours goal I have set for myself. I will obviously get this work done eventually, but why am I pushing what I can do right now to tomorrow? I will definitely not fail my exam as I will read for it in due time, but why start next week and get a 61% when I can start now and get a 90%?
So I decide to close all tabs and get some reading done. For once, this did not happen as a result of a guilty conscience or a feeling of misplaced priorities. But instead, a newfound, in its own twisted way, motivation. By watching all these movies, some amazing and others not so great, all I am literally doing is spending MY time watching the ACTORS succeed in what they are doing. Every time I go out, I am spending MY time helping the CLUB OWNER/DJ succeed at what he/she is doing. As all this happens, time is moving, I am helping others get somewhere with their lives, while mine remains at a stand still. The excitement I get from all the movies and the parties are temporary. There’s always going to be another movie to watch tomorrow, another party to go to, but I will never have another today. If I were to die today, I’d have watched Denzel Washington become one of the best actors of his time, while I could have been making a difference in my own life.
The balance between the NEED and WANT determine the kind of life you live. I do not want to get caught up in the temptations of today that will leave my tomorrow blurry. Easier said than done of course, but this is my challenge to myself. To try my very best to put the need before the want by doing the hard work first before seeking temporary pleasure. After all, “The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done” Arnold Palmer.
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