Why wait for a near-death experience to re-evaluate your life?
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Today on LinkedIn there is an article about near-death experiences and crises being the catalyst for workers to review their priorities.
One man, Johathan Frostick told LinkedIn after he had a heart attack, Instead of thinking of his family, he thought, “This isn’t convenient.”
Reflecting on his experiences, he shared the following:
“1. I’m not spending all day on zoom anymore
2. I’m restructuring my approach to work
3. I’m really not going to be putting up with any s#%t at work ever again — life literally is too short
4. I’m losing 15kg
5. I want every day to count for something at work else I’m changing my role
6. I want to spend more time with my family”
His post went viral, and I can see why. It took a heart attack for him to realise what was important to him. Imagine thinking as you’re having a heart attack, “this is inconvenient”. I wonder if we were honest with ourselves, how many of us would have similar thoughts.
We get caught up with our hectic lives, without stopping to think whether what we are doing is of any value. We tend to fit our lives around everyone else, rather than living a life that we have designed for ourselves. We are living other peoples expectations and not our own.
No one has to wait for some crises or near-death experience to take time out to re-evaluate their life. It would be far better if you didn’t, because what if in your case it wasn’t a near-death experience, instead it was death. What dreams would you be leaving undone? As Jonathan says, ‘Life is too short.’
When a person is on their death bed they don’t say, “I wished I worked more”, no they regret not chasing their dreams and spending time with those important to them.
The LinkedIn discussion was around work and whether people continue to work or not. It is difficult to get anywhere in life if you are not working in some shape or form. Instead, these people who had a near-death experience wanted their jobs to work around their lives and not the other way around. I think many of us would agree if we took the time to think about what our dream life would look like. Work is important but so is doing the things we enjoy, and the ultimate would be to be able to join them all together.
Now is the best time to take stock of your life, especially if you have not done so already, no matter your age. If you could live your ultimate life, how would it look? What is stopping you from starting today?
Have a great day
Mandy
