I worked with a woman many years ago who really loved her children. One day we were talking about a recent death and I recalled an old adage: “live each day like it your last”. She quickly responded that it was impossible to do that because if she knew her last day was here she would spend all of her time with her children. I was stumped for a response.
I have thought about this quite a bit lately. Yes, it is impossible to live each day as though it will be our last, we just cannot do that. But we can live each day trying to meet our priorities so that if we do have our last day that we make the most out of it.
This woman had just built a house, much more expensive than the one they were living in. She and her husband both worked but I think she was the main bread winner. I have no problem with that, but was she really meeting her priorities of spending time with her children?
I submit that she was more concerned about the material lifestyle for her children than spending time with them. She had alternatives such as staying in her existing home and re-setting her budget to meet her main priority, spending time with the children.
Many of us think we can have it all, but in my opinion, not many really do. We can argue about quality time and other factors, but if we look deep into our priorities I think we would do some things differently.
I often wished that we had a large, fancy house but didn’t want the debt and stress that came with it. I am very happy now that I did that because when my work situation changed I would have needed to make some tough decisions. I don’t claim to have all the answers, but I do recommend that we all look to our higher priorities when making financial decisions.
