0 We don’t have as much time as we think

13 JULY 2018

I was supposed to meet my colleague for a cup of coffee. But she died before I could.

When I returned to the company, she had called out – while hurrying to a work assignment – “Liz, we need to meet!”

After all, we’ve not seen each other in years. 

“Yes we should! I yelled back.

I thought we had time. But we didn’t.

A few weeks after that encounter, I was attending her wake. As I watched crestfallen colleagues walk past her coffin, I thought to myself: How many things do we allow to happen in our lives because of this fallacy? The idea that tomorrow will certainly come?

Stay in a job you hate so that it can fund a far-away future retirement. Delay going back to school because you want to wait. Not take that career risk because “now is not the time”?

We think that somehow, one day, some time, we’ll be able to do the thing we want to do so badly. We save up for a retirement that we hope to enjoy ten or twenty years from now. Meanwhile, we grit our teeth as we endure circumstances that we dislike – be it a bad relationship, a job that doesn’t suit us or put that dream on hold.

We don’t have time. In fact, we live on borrowed time. Every day is a gift. Make every day count. What do you think?

I originally wrote this post on LinkedIn. It has been edited and revised.