“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” ~ Steve Jobs
Even though I didn’t know Steve Jobs personally, I was deeply saddened by his death. It just felt like the world lost a soul who was way ahead of his time and worked his entire life to change the world for the better, one day at a time. I came across Seth Godin’s blog that inspired what I’m writing right now.
A eulogy of action
I can’t compose a proper eulogy for Steve Jobs. There’s too much to say, too many capable of saying it better than I ever could.
It’s one thing to miss someone, to feel a void when they’re gone. It’s another to do something with their legacy, to honor them through your actions.
Steve devoted his professional life to giving us (you, me and a billion other people) the most powerful device ever available to an ordinary person. Everything in our world is different because of the device you’re reading this
on.
What are we going to do with it?
It got me thinking about life and how fragile it is. Whether you believe in God or not, I believe that we were all put on this earth to serve a higher purpose. Some of us are well known household names like Steve Jobs while others are nameless angels that maybe just pass our way once. Regardless, each and every one of us is here for a reason.
And you don’t have to be someone rich and famous to leave your mark in this world. Loving what you do and
doing it passionately, relentlessly, and unwaveringly is how you leave your legacy.
I lost a dear friend to cancer seven years ago, and there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about her, miss her, and live my life more consciously and passionately to honor her memory and what she taught me about life and love.
Caryn was only 45 years old when she died. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor and passed within a few short weeks of that diagnosis. She was a stay at home mom with two teenage kids and a loving husband. And she was the best damn stay at home mom. Ever. She loved her family more than she loved life itself, and she spread her love, light, and laughter everywhere she went.
So, what am I doing with Caryn’s legacy? I am living my life as fully as I possibly can each day. I laugh and act silly with my six year old daughter, with my husband, and with my friends; I don’t sweat the small stuff; I do my best to inspire and lift those kindred souls whose paths I cross; I make a conscious effort to always look for the positive in everything, and I promised Caryn that I would share my writing with the world.
Each and every one of us is blessed with amazing talents that are unique to us and to us only. There is at least one thing (if not more) that only you can do that no one else can duplicate. Your responsibility is to recognize and fulfill your highest potential and share your gifts with the world.
Life is a precious gift that we have all been blessed with.
What are you going to do with it?
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path.” ~ Steve Jobs
