By: D. A. Slinkard
I realized an important aspect of life after a recent visit with my mom — it stops for no one. My mom suffers from dementia, and it is devastating for the individual and the surrounding family members who feel the strain of seeing the person and the impact the disease has on their loved one. I was flooded with so many memories from years past, but I knew I couldn’t speak with her about them because she simply didn’t have the ability to remember that far back. Though I hold tight to the many memories of my youth, with the involvement of my mom and the role she played in my early years, I know that they are just that, memories. I understand now that I cannot get back today what I took for granted yesterday.
How many more of us are facing this cold, hard reality today? We never know what the future holds for us, and we know not what success and failures lie ahead in our lives as time unfolds before us. Seeing my mom living in the shell of who she was really tugged on an emotional string for me. It made me realize that I want to live my life to the fullest because there may come a day when the only thing to hold on to is the memories that others have of my past.
Though I write this article today, there is a chance that my mom has no recollection of my visit or me telling her that I love her. Instantly, the Latin words “carpe diem” (seize the day) are prevalent to me as I understand the approach that is necessary for all of us to achieve success in our lives. How many times do we say, “I’ll do that tomorrow,” and it turns out that it was the biggest lie we told ourselves that day? Why continue the strings of lies? Tony Robbins once said, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.”
Yet we, as humans, are creatures of habit who continue to do what we have always done before. This is where we must decide to go a different route, change the course our lives are headed, and set out in a new direction. We must seize the day and take a full-blitz approach to the way we live life. There may come a time in which we will be unable to recall how things used to be, but we can impact how things are for us today. How do we make this impact? We must cut out the distractions that currently plague us.
I want you to think about the distractions you have on a daily basis. How many times have you thought to yourself, “I’m going to just check Facebook,” and the next thing you know, hours have passed by. Maybe you think you’re going to just check the news or see what email just came through, and now your entire day has been thrown off course because you allowed yourself to get distracted. Seize the day. What steps can you take to make the most of your life?
Another big lie that I hear is, “I just don’t have time.” We all have 168 hours in a week, and some do what others cannot do. Why? If it’s important to you, you’ll find a way to accomplish it. If it’s not, you’ll make an excuse. The difficulty comes into not making an excuse.
It goes back to the biggest lie of doing it tomorrow. Spoiler alert – Tomorrow never comes! How we overcome this pitfall that many people face is to set out each day with a purpose. We must live each day with the purpose that we will seize the day. We must know what it is we want to accomplish, and we must take action. We all know what we need to do, but few of us actually take the necessary action to pursue our dreams and accomplish our goals. This proves that knowing is not enough. Life is about action.
Anyone who has ever done anything great before will tell you it required them to set their lives in motion. All it takes is knowing what needs to be done and then setting out on taking the necessary steps to put the knowing in to motion. Making a point to seize the day will keep your life headed in the right direction. Go ahead and do today instead of putting off till tomorrow. Tomorrow may be too late.
By: D. A. Slinkard
D.A. Slinkard is the manager of the Athens Staples store
