Life. This 4-letter word seems to be quite simple at first. However, if you look deeper you will see that it is a very complicated thing with a lot of various components that are like threads intertwined into a tight tangle. Every tangle has its own story with key points and of course aspects that influence it most of all – its values. As for me, there are three main values in our life: time, success and love. They are connected, and they affect the flow of our life.
First of all in order to determine our values we have to ask ourselves: what is life? In terms of biology, it is a period of existence of a living being from the dawn – the moment of birth till the decline – its death. For everyone this period is unique. For someone it is quite long, for others it is too short. Very often we can hear people saying that they are so busy that they do not have enough time to live, meaning that they do not feel the taste of life. They think that a couple of additional hours per day or days per week would make them happier as they would have more time to spend with their families, friends, lovers, pets. However, in most cases when you have free time you decide that you can do even more things – take a new task, get one more job, accept another challenge. People are used to waste their time.
Quite often, or I would say almost always, we appreciate things only when we lose them. For sure, some people would say that this fact cannot be transferred to such notion as life as we live only once. However, think how many times you thought: why did not I do that before – when I was young/had free time/had more money/was healthier/was single, etc. We regret about things that we did not manage to do and very often we forget about the main value of our lives. We forget to live!
Michel de Montaigne has said: “The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them.” So it does not matter if you are young or old. What is actually of importance is the way you have spent your life. You can be a 60-year old grumbler claiming all the time that the world is cruel and life is not fair to you. Or you can be a 30-year old enthusiast who travelled all over the world, helped thousands of homeless and saved hundreds of people with one brilliant idea. According to Myles Munroe, “The value of life is not in its duration, but in its donation. You are not important because of how long you live, you are important because of how effective you live.”
Some people say that the main sense of life for them is to earn a lot of money in order to buy a big house and a cool car, to start their own business and make a career. For them this means “to take everything best from the life.” However, history shows us so many cases when a person has achieved all his targets on the way to become successful but still lacked something. They did not feel the taste of life as they were not happy. It does not mean that you should not strive for more. For sure, we are living while we are evolving but sometimes all you have to do is to find a person who can share your misfortune with you. “All you need is love,” as it was sang by The Beatles.
However, it is so sad to say but at the same time by falling in love people may forget about the value of their lives. Young people, impulsive and immoderate, are inclined to rash and ill-considered actions, like suicides because of unrequited love. These modern Romeos and Juliets do not understand that losing their lives will cause only harm to the people they loved. The sense of life is to give love, not to take it away. If one person does not need it – give it to someone else. Maybe you will add value to another unfortunate life.
So these three values – time, success and love – can make your life on one hand full and unforgettable but on the other hand hard and painful. There are always a couple of options. It is you who has to decide what way to choose. You are the lord of your life and the value of it depends on your own actions.