Life is short

Life is Short

Tim Connor

As 2013 comes to a close I would ask you to consider how you feel about what lies behind you and what is waiting around the next corner.

Life is short.  How many times have you heard that from a friend, loved one or total stranger?  How many times have you said it?  I’ll bet, regardless of whether you have heard it or said it, that you didn’t spend much time contemplating the words or the true meaning behind the message.

I’ll also wager that you spend very little time or energy during your life contemplating these three short words and their ultimate impact on the way you live your life.

I know I have said them hundreds if not thousands of times.  And I also know that most of us never ask the follow-up question – How short is it really – for me?

Here for a little while. What’s a little while? Thirty years? fifty or maybe you will be one of the lucky ones who gets to spend eighty or even ninety years learning, growing, sharing and living.  Living.  Why do so many people take life for granted assuming that they will have all the time they need to do all the things they want, visit all the places they desire and accomplish all of their goals and plans?   Why do so many people squander their present moments or settle in life for a unfulfilling career or relationship?  Why do so many people during their life waste thousands of hours reliving old mistakes and failures, bad decisions and unfulfilled dreams?

Why do so many people want more or better but refuse to try or choose to remain stuck?

I don’t have a clue.  I have done it many times myself.  So, you ask, what gives me the right to tell you how to live your life?

Please keep in mind that this is not my intent.  What you chooses to do with the time you have been given is up to you because it is your life and it too will be very short in comparison  to the time that man has walked the earth or will walk the Earth for centuries to come.

Life is short and the older you get the faster it moves.  Once you hit fifty trust me, the hours, days and years will fly by and there isn’t a thing you can do to slow them down.  All you can do is put as much life as you can into the years you are given.

Years ago one of my best friends passed away at age forty-one.  I have had a number of mentors and heroes who made it well past ninety. Who is to say how many years each of us will get?  Who has a contract with God that says you will make it to the ripe old age of one hundred and as spry, mentally alert and healthy as you were when you were in your teens?  No one.  Each day is a gift.  Each moment is a blessing.  If this is true why do so many people whine and moan about the quality of their life?  Why do so many people wish their life were better? Sure I would like to have more money, be better looking and in excellent health but guess what – sooner or later life happens to all of us. No one sits around in their twenties planning their life thinking OK, let’s make sure we include divorce, failure, bankruptcy, cancer, career disaster, discouragement, loneliness and any number of negative circumstances.  But in the end we all get our share of both good and bad stuff.

Life is not what you get but what you do with what you get while you are here.

Some people leave legacies of love while others leave legacies of despair and hate.  Some people leave having given more than they took and others leave having taken more than they gave.  What will be your legacy?  How will you live each of the precious moments you were given? 

So friends, live your life to the fullest every moment while you can because before you know it, it will be time to say good-bye. 

You are here for a little while and then you are gone forever.