No Throwaway Moments

There are no throwaway moments in life. 

This idea came up during a podcast between Rich Roll and Light Watkins, where they discussed how if you're bored, you're not paying attention (to the experience of life). Light says to Rich, "There are no throwaway moments," to which Rich poses the question, "What if all the billboards were replaced with messages like that? What would society look like?"

To further me down this rabbit hole of thought, I was recently reading a chapter in Russell Brand's book, Recovery: Freedom From Our Addictions, where he writes, "Plus how much time have I given over to watching TV or staring out of windows or pursuing pointless relationships or looking at my Twitter mentions? Those hours all add up and are sadly deducted from the overall life total. They are not a break from life, these 'harmless' distractions, they are life."

I get hung up often on this type of thinking.

Personally, I've had more than my fair share of death, loss, and grief to deal with in my life, but all of those experiences have brought me to the realization that the clock is ticking, and we're taking it for granted.

Sure, it's ok to mindlessly unplug every once in a while to refresh our brains. And a little mental junk food is alright when it's not cutting into priorities.

But where do we draw the line, and what is the tradeoff?

It's hard to get going with something we know we should be doing or pursue something that we truly want or need. It's far easier to say, "I'll do that later," as we kick the can down the road and make a choice to discard our potential.

Work is hard.

Hard work is even harder.

But hard work is necessary to get to where you want to go.

And your days are numbered.

It's highly unlikely that you die unexpectedly tomorrow (although it's always a possibility). But, what's more probable, is that you squander non-recoupable time. Then, one day, you might be looking back thinking, "I should have…"

Don't let that be you. 

You deserve more. 

You are capable of more.