![\"eric-kim-street-photography-kodak-tri-x-1600-1483\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/eric-kim-street-photography-kodak-tri-x-1600-1483.jpg?resize=1180%2C782\")
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One of my friends Devan said a story of how one of his co-workers (62 years old) was planning his retirement. He then suddenly died of a heart attack.<\/p>\n
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He put off living until his (planned) retirement. Now he is dead, and he was stripped of the privilege of truly living.<\/p>\n
The problem with retirement is that most people treat it like the golden ticket. The idea is you stick with a job you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t love for 40 years, and one day, you can finally<\/em> do what you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve wanted to do in life \u00e2\u20ac\u201d travel, see the world, pick up hobbies, and follow your passion.<\/p>\n The problem: who knows if you will die before you retire? If you get cancer, a heart attack, or get into a car accident?<\/p>\n What if you find out that you have some sort of genetically-inherited mental disease? That by the age of 55, you will literally lose your mind?<\/p>\n You might also live until retirement (let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s say 65 or 70) \u00e2\u20ac\u201d but are you guaranteed to have the physical strength to travel? Do what you want? Or the mental strength?<\/p>\n Why delay your happiness into the future?<\/p>\n Live immediately.<\/strong><\/p>\n Treat today as if it were your last day on earth. Because you literally cannot plan if you will be alive tomorrow.<\/p>\n You might choke and die in your sleep. Tomorrow you might get hit by a car (while texting and driving). You might have an allergic reaction to some cashews (without knowing) and die.<\/p>\n For me, the easiest way to live life is treating each day like an entire lifetime (learned from Seneca in his book: \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcOn the Shortness of Life\u00e2\u20ac\u2122).<\/p>\n You can get a lot accomplished in a day.<\/p>\n You can have meaningful conversations with your loved ones, and express your love for them via words and actions.<\/p>\n You can go out and make photos which are personally meaningful to you, and publish them online.<\/p>\n You can write whatever is on your mind, and publish it on your blog and share it over social media.<\/p>\n It is hard to live for the future. Nobody can plan the future, because nobody knows what lies ahead.<\/p>\n It is hard to write a book. It is easy to write a paragraph or chapter.<\/p>\n It is hard to put together a photo-series. It is easy to take a few photos.<\/p>\n It is hard to show someone how you really feel about them. It is easy to give them a hug, share words of appreciation, and give them a soft kiss on the cheek.<\/p>\n Who is preventing you from living right now?<\/p>\n Only yourself.<\/p>\n You delay your creative projects, because you need to stay late at the office to finish some last-minute emails. You want to write after work, but you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re exhausted after a long day, and just want to veg out to Netflix.<\/p>\n You want to travel more, yet you get roped into unnecessary social obligations on the weekends.<\/p>\n You want to become the best version of yourself, yet there are others you allow to bring you down with their negativity.<\/p>\n Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t blame yourself for not living. Yet at the same time, take responsibility.<\/p>\n If you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t steer your ship in life, someone else will snatch the steering wheel from you. They will dictate what direction to take your life. And before you know it, they will steer you into an iceberg, and you will perish before having worked on anything truly meaningful to you.<\/p>\n Some things I do to live like everyday were my last:<\/p>\n During the last 5-10 years of Steve Jobs\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 life \u00e2\u20ac\u201d he was the most creative. Why? He knew he had cancer. He couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t waste a single day.<\/p>\n Why is it that we need a death sentence before we realize how much time we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve wasted? Not only that, but why do we plan our retirement and future like it is a certain bet?<\/p>\nDon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t delay your happiness<\/h2>\n
But what can you get accomplished in a day?<\/h2>\n
Do what is easy for today<\/h2>\n
Who is to blame?<\/h2>\n
How do I apply this to my life?<\/h2>\n
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Conclusion: Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t wait for the grim reaper to knock on your door<\/h2>\n