Have you ever wondered what you would change in your life if you found out you had only 10 years to live?
Do you know the song “One Day to Late “by Skillet?
Here are some of the powerful lyrics to the song
So much to do, and so much I need to say, Will tomorrow be too late?
Time passes by, Never thought I’d wind up, One step behind; Now I’ve made my mind up… Today, I’m gonna try a little harder;
Gonna make every minute last longer; Gonna learn to forgive and forget, ‘Cause we don’t have long, gonna make the most of it; Today, I’m gonna love my enemies;
Reach out to somebody who needs me; Make a change, make the world a better place, ‘Cause tomorrow could be one day too late…
One day too late… One day too late…
Do you find yourself putting things off that you really want to do today?
The words from this song are thought provoking.
Gonna learn to forgive and forget,
Cause we don’t have long, gonna make the most of it;
Cause tomorrow could be one day too late…
Time Comes Whether We’re Ready or Not
We all find excuses for putting off things that are important to us.We get bogged down with every day tasks.
They always say the “squeaky wheel gets the oil.”
We can easily lose focus on what is really important and find ourselves giving our energy to things that squeak the loudest.
Sometimes just because a task or problem seem to squeak the loudest doesn’t mean it is the most important thing to us.
How Do You Make Sure You Get the Most Out of Life?
They do it one day at a time, one week at a time, one month at a time. It happens so gradually they are unaware of how their lives are slipping away until it’s too late. Mary Kay Ash
The First Thing I Do
Be clear about what is really important.
What are my priorities?
Then I asked myself, what am I really spending my time and energy on?
I really wanted to write more and exercise more but when I evaluated how I was spending my time,I realized I was sitting in front of the TV way more than I wanted to.
Once I sat down in front of the TV I would zone out and lose all motivation to do anything creative or physical.
I had to get honest and ask myself a couple of questions:
Do I really want to bike and run or is it just a nice idea?
Do I really want to write or is it just a nice idea?
If I really don’t want to do the things I say I want to, then get honest with myself and become ok with sitting in front of the TV all night.
Once I realized I wanted to get more out of my life, I needed to do everything I could to realize my goals?
The most important step was getting clear about what I really wanted to get out of life?
I wrote an article 3 Steps to Developing a Plan for Self Discovery that takes the theme of Getting the Most Out of Life to the next level of implementation.
In fact if you read my blogs you see my focus is on trying to bring the fullness of life to myself and others.
Why?
A True Story
When I was a senior in high school the glands under my jawbone started swelling up to the size of a baseball.
Beside the fact I felt very tired I had no pain. It was almost funny the way I looked; except when I went into the hospital I found out I might have a form of cancer that would give me only 6 weeks to live.
Everyone was very hush, hush and would not tell me anything. The minister came and stood over my bed and with a serious voice asked me if I was ready?
“Ready for what?” I wondered.
Now I started to get a little worried,“what was going on here?”I thought to myself.
I didn’t know what to say and just looked at him. He asked if he could have a prayer and I nodded my head and said “sure.”
That night after everyone had left the room and the nurse came in, I asked her what was going on? I told her I was frustrated because no one had told me anything about why I was in the hospital.
She looked at me for a moment and then explained.”They thought you had a serious form of cancer that could not be cured but most of the reports have come back negative and it looks like you have an extreme case of mononucleosis.”
(I should mention this was back in 1973 before we had such good testing for cancer and other diseases.)
I was stuck on the words “most of the tests” and asked her what she meant by most ?
She explained, they were waiting for one last test to come back and they would know for sure by tomorrow.
That evening I laid in bed imagining what I would do if I had a short time to live. It was very scary but ended up being a life changing experience.
I really looked hard at my life and what my focus had been on. If I lived, what did I want the focus of my life to be.
Have you had an experience that gave you the opportunity to ask what you wanted your life to be about?
If you haven’t an experience like I described, I invite you to imagine yourself in the hospital with the doctor saying,”you have 10 years to live.”
How would you spend your time?
You would still need to work to support yourself for the next 10 years but what type of work would you be doing?
How would you spend your free time?
Yes, we all make a bucket list, but I want you think more day-to-day.
What will you give your energy to? What will you do that is fulfilling and enriching?
What are the first words of the song?
Tick tock, hear the clock count down,
Wish the minute hand could be rewound;
So much to do, and so much I need to say,
Will tomorrow be too late?
I would love to hear some of your thought around this theme of getting more out of your life.
Have you had an experience that changed your perspective on life?
What is it that you have decided to do today rather than wait till tomorrow?
Be a Miracle
Jerry
P.S. If you want to hear the whole song One Day to Late , click on the link,you can see some wonderful images with Skillet singing.
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