The perspective

I was talking to a very dear and close friend of mine the other day who currently has a son in the NICU (he's doing great but a long way to go yet).  We started talking about how certain events in your life can cause you to gain a new perspective.  I'd like to share with you mine.

There are so many things in life that I used to think were important but now realize they're simply not.  I've spent years trying to establish a career that I would find both rewarding and also one that would make a lot of money.  Believe me, money is still good.  Bills do have to be paid but it's now more important to me to have a job or career I truly like and would be flexible for hopeful future life changes.  Complaining about your boss, or how you got passed over for yet another promotion or being upset that you don't make X just simply isn't important.

Good friends and family contribute more to a happy life than anything else in the world.  Take the time to get together with friends you keep meaning to but don't because you claim to be too "busy."  When you really think about it you're aren't as busy as you think.  Make people who mean the world to you a priority.  You never know when you won't have that time anymore. 

Facebook can be a total waste of time most of the time.  Yes, it's great to be able to get back in touch with people you haven't talked to in years.  It's also a great way to get news out to a lot of people at once.  But you can get sucked into it and waste hours of your day reading a bunch of statuses and for what?  Think of what you could be doing with your time.

It's ok to focus on doing what's best for you.  It's not considered selfish.  Too many people focus on what other people think of them and do what they feel others want them to do.  Who cares what people think?  Especially strangers.  No one else lives your life or knows you entire life story like you do.  Everyone has been through something and everyone deals with it in their own way.

Life is precious, life is short.  Figure out what's most important to you and focus on it.  I hate that it took losing my son to figure all this out but I'm still glad I found it.