Appreciate the Days
The days go by so fast, wake up and before you know the day is over.
Seems like years and decades are going by so fast.
Having kids is even a faster accelerator.
Mike’s Blog 209
Today is more a reminder – for myself and others. We are always so focused on the things in the past and the future – I am victim of that as well. Harping on some problem in the past, or nervous about something coming up in the future.
Yesterday is history, tomorrow is unknown, today is a gift that is why we call it the present.
As you know I have made some drastic life changes – probably the biggest is marriage and kids! But the ones you are seeing is moving to Thailand and being more “remote” – the way I see it is – these are the years I need to spend with my kids. I see it as they are soon going to not want to hang out with me – they will want to be with their friends, go to school activities, birthday parties. Soon they won’t want me to hold their hand in public, they won’t want me to help them – they will be their own person.
The other day I picked up my kids at school and Maggie ran out of the classroom and hugged me so hard. Really squeezing me with her full force. Such an amazing feeling. And it made me realize, this is what life is about.
I have been missing a lot of meetups, a lot of coffees with business owners – because I need to put my time to my kids.
How long will it be like this? Probably 5 years I’m thinking. Think once they are getting through til like fourth or fifth grade – from my own memory – is when they will be big enough to operate on their own and want to operate more on their own.
But whether you have kids or not – we need to appreciate every day we have on this Earth. Whether you believe in God, Buddha, Aliens, or dying and turning into dirt – we don’t know what is going to happen once we die. We need to appreciate what we have now.
I remember I used to always WANT MORE. More money, a better apartment, a better set of clothes, a raise in my job (back in Wall Street days) – it was never enough. Once you get out of your head it isn’t about accumulating money or things (you’ll realize this when you move your house) it is about being a better person on the inside and accepting what you have and being appreciative.
I know it is morbid, but I often think about my death. HSBC suckered me into a few life insurance plans (doh!) but its true – what will happen when you die? What will happen to this blog, to my Facebook account, to my email box? Hopefully my team and my business partners can continue to operate things (and hopefully someone here can remind my wife to go to HSBC HK to collect the life insurance payout) – but then it is all over.
All that stress, all that desire for more things, more money, more fame, more more more – will be gone and over. You’ll be in a different place – whether that is heaven or hell, your mind and presence – I believe – hopefully – will continue to help and influence others in a positive way for themselves and society.
Hopefully this little video blog can give you some perspective. And sure there are people watching this as soon as it is uploaded to Facebook (youtube, tencent QQ, wordpress, etc) – but what would be so cool is if this video and text blog helps people long after I am gone. Then I will feel fulfilled.