Words that caught us: 'we can't keep postponing things that matter to us'

 

Do you remember that famous captain?

Cpt. Sullenberger?

The guy that plunged a plane

Into Hudson River?

Well, Ric Elias was on board.

And it completely changed his life.

 

Have you ever been in a near-death experience?

What happened?

How did it change you?

 

Most of us have, by now, lost someone we know,

To COVID-19.

How has that experience changed you?

 

I remember the day, like it was yesterday.

I was a recently minted college graduate,

And had just bought myself my first beaten-up,

Second-hand car.

I was navigating a sharp corner at top speed

Like most excited, young and furious drivers do.

And then physics took over.

Remember those centrifugal forces the teacher talked about?

Well…they are real…and merciless.

And the next thing I knew, I was upside down,

Dangling dangerously into a cliff,

Held perilously by a lone tree.

The car had rolled off the road and overturned.

And the only thing holding it,

From tumbling down into the valley,

To my certain death or serious injury,

Was a lone eucalyptus tree!

Miraculously, I came out unscathed,

And it completely changed how I drive.

 

It’s a funny and unfortunate thing,

That we keep postponing things that matter to us,

And avoid making changes in our lives,

Until we encounter near-death experiences.

 

I probably still am.

You probably still are.

 

Life’s currency is time. 

And we all think we have plenty of it left,

For that important conversation we have been planning.

That we have plenty of it left,

To let our loved ones know

How much we love, and care about them.

That we have tomorrow,

To thank those who have helped us along the way,

And say sorry, to those we’ve hurt.

That this is going to be our last project,

Or, we are doing this, for one last time,

Then we get back to whatever else, we’ve been postponing.

 

We all assume we have time.

And so, we start postponing

The things that matter to us.

But we don’t have to.

We don’t have to wait

For a near-death experience to remind us,

Of the life we could have had,

Or the choices we could have made.

We can prioritize.

And we can choose to start doing that today.

 

What important things or changes,

Are you postponing in your life?

Which conversations have you been postponing?

 

Tomorrow, tomorrow comes,

But mostly, it comes too late, if it comes at all!

 

*This reflection has been inspired by a conversation between Simon Sinek and Ric Elias.