For those of you who took the time to read through the About page, you will have read about one of the people I have dedicated this project in memory of, Jim Sissakis. Jim sadly passed away in mid-2012 after a year long battle with cancer. I posted this facebook note shortly after, and thought I would repost it more publicly here, seeing as I have, in part, dedicated this project to his memory, and the content of the post is very much to do with the core values of the Hippie Van Man project.
Original Post
Originally Published July 9, 2012 on my personal facebook page.
A few months prior to leaving Toronto back in November, one of my good friends had been diagnosed with a rare form of Cancer. Just before I left he was one of the last people I saw. At 25, finding out he had cancer was a big shock. He explained to me how it really put things into perspective.
He told me that one of his biggest regrets was that he didn’t go on more adventures and see the world, and that once he beat this thing (cancer), we would do a trip together. Sadly he passed away earlier this week.
“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love …” ― Marcus Aurelius
We assume we will live until we are a ripe 70 or 80 years of age. We believe we have all the time in the world. We delay doing things, saying things, making things happen, that we truly want to do; thinking, tomorrow, in a couple months, next year, when I retire.
My friends death was a true tragedy, but if you can take anything away from it, it is that tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. Yes I know we hear this message all the time, case-in-point, carpe diem or for the laymen, YOLO. Yet still I see far too many of my friends procrastinating their true desires and ambitions in order to chase the security of jobs they dread working for or holding back in order to please others. I hear the same story over and over; I really want to do this or that, BUT I’m going to wait until…
“It’s being here now that’s important. There’s no past and there’s no future. Time is a very misleading thing. All there is ever, is the now. We can gain experience from the past, but we can’t relive it; and we can hope for the future, but we don’t know if there is one.” ― George Harrison
Yes we cannot have everything we want right now. Some things take time to save up for. Yes we need to work jobs to secure income in order to feed, house and clothe ourselves. Yes it is important to save for the security of your future. But equally important is living in the now as if maybe tomorrow, next week, next year, retirement, may never come.
“We are all dying, every moment that passes of every day. That is the inescapable truth of this existence. It is a truth that can paralyze us with fear, or one that can energize us with impatience, with the desire to explore and experience, with the hope- nay, the iron-will!- to find a memory in every action. To be alive, under sunshine, or starlight, in weather fair or stormy. To dance with every step, be they through gardens of flowers or through deep snows.” ― R.A. Salvatore
I will finish with a few questions to dwell on.
-Are you happy and fulfilled in your day to day life?
-If you were to be in a car accident tomorrow and your life was flashing before your eyes, would you be content with how you have spent your time thus far?
-If you were diagnosed with cancer tomorrow and had an uncertain future, what promises would you make to yourself today?
-It is important to invest time and money to gain security for your future, but just how much security and money do you really need? And what do you risk loosing by focusing too much time on that and not enough time on living out your deepest dreams and desires now?
Click Here to donate to the Canadian Cancer Society as part of the Hippie Van Man fundraiser
