For a variety of reasons that I wont go into right now, I don’t sleep very well. So when, after many restless nights I do find myself in a nice deep sleep, I was quite irritated to be woken up by an SMS message at two am.
I had left the phone in the office, and after a few minutes of attempting to ignore the rings and vibrations I dragged myself out of bed and, barely conscious, fell into the dark office to shut up the disturbance.
The message was from a good friend of mine, he and his partner have just had a healthy baby girl. All of a sudden, I felt incredibly small for being so irritated moments ago.
I will no-doubt see the baby some day soon, and I will almost definitely have a celebratory drink with the (new) father at some stage in the near future. But, other than that, my life will remain unchanged.
However, that message really seemed to put things into perspective for me. For some reason, it made me stop; and just think about what a miracle that really is.
Without belittling the work that I am doing, I think about the stress I have felt recently due to the amount of work I have on right now. But, that message some how made me realize what really matters, and it isn’t an arbitrarily set deadline.
I have often said that one of the most important skills anyone can learn is prioritizing. In the early hours of this morning, prioritizing has a whole new level of meaning for me.
How often do you stop to take a look at what really matters? I have just realized that I don’t do it nearly enough.
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“How easy it is in our life, to miss what’s being offered.” — Paul Haller
