Editor’s note: This article was first published in March 2011, on 12 March 2011, the day after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. The “thousands” and “more than a thousand” dead reflect the first reports; the final toll was far higher, around 18,000 dead and missing.
First, let me say that it would be crazy to look for any positive side to this tragedy, because there is really nothing positive about it for anyone. Still, it can help us learn a few things that, although most of us more or less know them, never hurt to be reminded of.
I’m someone who doesn’t believe in destiny. In fact, I think we create our own destiny and decide which path to take in life. Let’s say I believe everyone “makes” their own luck. When a disaster like this earthquake in Japan happens, that’s when I stop and think that it could have happened to any of us.
And that’s when I think that we can’t choose the way we’re going to die, but we can choose the way we live for as long as that journey called life lasts. In this case, thousands of people have lost their lives, people who, while they were alive, surely had fears of their own. Fear of taking risks, fear of failure, and I’m sure some of them complained about the problems life threw at them.
Well, I can’t remember who said this:
“The biggest problems you’ll face in life will be the ones you never thought about. They show up at eight in the morning or four in the afternoon on any ordinary day. That’s when you realize you’ve never had a single serious problem in your life.”
Most of the time we don’t know how to appreciate our greatest asset (life). We spend more time thinking about our supposed problems than appreciating that valuable asset we have. We live with fears and insecurities, turning down incredible opportunities in case they don’t turn out the way we hope.
Above all, we live as if life were eternal, or as if we were going to get another life afterwards. Nobody knows whether there is life after death, but given the doubt, I sincerely believe we should make the most of it and shed every brake that keeps us from happiness or from failure, because if failure were the worst thing that could happen to us, then let it come, knowing there are far worse tragedies.
On days like these, when tragedy floods the news, is when we should resolve to enjoy our loved ones to the fullest and make each and every one of our dreams come true, because that’s something we can only do while we’re alive. In fact, we’ll be remembered for the things we do while we live.
It doesn’t matter how many times you fall, as long as you get back up with enough energy to try again. Along the way you’ll have bitter moments and sweet ones, and the palate needs both flavors. In some places more than others, there will be people who stand in the way of your personal and professional growth, and some will even throw stones to knock you down. That’s when you should use those stones to build your own wall.
As Walt Disney said, if you can dream it, you can do it.
Try to make sure that 20 years from now you’ll never have to reproach yourself that, if you’d tried a little harder, you could have achieved the things you lack.
Forget the past; it’s the only thing you can never change. But you’re shaping the future today, and that really is in your hands.
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Today there are more than a thousand people who will never be able to fulfill their dreams, and I’m sure that if they could go back, they would look at life differently. We have that chance, however long our lifetime may be: try never to have to regret absolutely anything.
In life, in business and in love you never lose; you always gain experience, and experience is what lets you say at the end of the journey that you’ve jumped, danced, cried and laughed, which proves that, one way or another… you’ve lived.
As the saying goes, may we live all the days of our lives. I’ll leave you with this video, which I’m sure most of you have already seen. It’s some of the best advice you’ll ever hear.
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Featured image: U.S. Navy photo, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
