In life, there are thousands of lessons to learn, but one of the hardest is to learn to value and appreciate every single day of your life. People often morph into creatures of habit living each day as if it is scripted, doing the minimum to get by and complaining just about everything. “My job sucks, my life sucks, this day is lame, I wish it were Friday.” You hear these comments from people throughout the week and it’s as if they wish they could fast forward through life just to get to the good parts.
Luckily, you have them all beat. You have been given the gift of knowledge that makes you a far more complete person than they are. In reality, we are all terminally ill because in the end, no one survives life. It’s just that the time we have varies from person to person… but that’s nothing compared to the QUALITY of the life you live.
Think of it this way, what good is living to be a hundred if you’re bitter, hate life, stop learning and continually settle. Now think of living half that time but being productive, being loved, writing, making music, surfing, loving, having a family, helping people and whatnot. The quality of those 50 years far eclipse someone who achieved the milestone of reaching a century’s worth of life… because it was a bitter century.
Some of the people who live life to the fullest are people who have been diagnosed with what in reality is the most real deadline any of us could ever be given. The veil has been taken off and the illusion of conformity is destroyed, replaced by the reality of how much you want to live. Adverse events have that way of impacting our lives.
In the life of Jesse Billauer, it took an accident at Pipeline when he was 17. Rendered quadriplegic, most people would be bitter with their life. Jesse accepted his situation, adapted his life and didn’t take no for an answer. With the help of a strong support group and unwavering faith in himself and his beliefs, he still surfs. Don’t take my word for it, check the links below.Here’s Jesse chargin:
Motorcross superstar, Travis Pastrana knows the value of life from what happened to his friend Matt Bigos. Because of Travis driving irresponsibly, he crashed his car leaving his friend paralyzed. After being told he wouldn’t walk again, Matt showed what he thought of those diagnoses… even in his condition, he does Iron Men triathlons and shows that nothing and no one is going to tell him what he can or can’t do. He also forgave Travis and told him things just happen.
Aaron "Wheelz" Fotheringham was born with Spina Bifida, which means he’s probably wheelchair bound for the rest of his life. His response? Becoming the pioneer of freestyle wheeling, landing air 360s, double backflips, and a superman air… all on a wheelchair.
These people didn’t take no for an answer, they didn’t give up and they didn’t let days slip by without doing what they loved. How many people do you know who can say this? How many healthy people? How many people with a smart phone, with Internet, with endless amounts of possessions and heaps of money?
In my personal experience my aunt was diagnosed with AIDS and my father was diagnosed with cancer. Instead of crumbling under the pressures of treatment and pain, my aunt published a book and spoke to people to create awareness and offer support. My father rekindled lost faith, prayed and finally broke down years of emotional barriers to finally show outwardly how much he cared for his family and in those 6 years he told me he loved me more than the rest of my life combined. If that isn’t worth more than 100 bitter years of life, then I don’t know what is. Unlike countless millions, you have been given the gift of knowledge. You have been exposed to the one undeniable truth that binds all of us and which is your mission to share with everyone you come into contact with and it can be summed up in 5 words:
Every day is a gift
So my best to you and always remember to keep your head high because in everything, life is about quality not quantity.
Cheers,
JDJ
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