A friend shared a story on Facebook about a young man called
Elvis. And what caught my attention was the title, “This man gets $84,600 each
morning and by the evening he is broke.” I had prejudged this young man
thinking I was going to be reading about another young man wasting his life
away on crack or heroin or some other drug. But for some reason I was drawn to
his story and was I glad I followed my gut rather than listening to the
negative stereotyping that was clouding my judgment.
I was pleasantly surprised to receive a wake up call from Elvis,
Elvis whose mother died when he was 16. Elvis who was living on the poverty
line because he had nowhere else to go and no one to turn to but himself. He
was forced to accept his life was all about the way he chose to live out the 84,600
seconds he is given every morning when he wakes up. He learned to treat those
seconds like precious dollars. Challenging himself to live out the seconds he
wakes up with every single day as if he was a man who had options and because
of his positive outlook, he opened himself up to receive the gifts,
treasures and abundance of the Universe.
And in doing so, allowed himself to break free of the chains of his own mind
which in turn opened him up to options beyond his dreams.
Teaching us that life truly gives us what we believe we are
capable of achieving but most times we focus on what we don’t have rather than
on what we do. Something as simple as being grateful for the 84,600 seconds we
wake up with each day allows us to see the possibility in each day.
Transforming our lives from mediocre to spectacular. From dreaming to doing. As
Elvis manages to do every single day of his life and now he is living a life of change and freedom because he knows
no matter what life brings him on any given day in any given second, he will
have another chance another opportunity to correct and be who he is meant to
be.
What an inspiration – no longer will I think any second of
the day is a chore because of this incredible young man. No I will tell myself
I am so grateful for every second of every day because there are 84,600 of them
in any given day – ample time for me to correct and change course. Ample time
for me to see the glory in each second regardless of how weighted down I may
seem because like Elvis my world was turned upside way before I understood what
life was all about when my mother died when I was 13. But her death liberated
me in some ways to know that every second of every single day counts because I
learnt the hard way I never know when it will be my last. As did Elvis. Kindred
spirits through time and space. Sharing a common story. From different
backgrounds and different perspectives but connected nonetheless.
I used to live my life with abandon. Not worried about
tomorrow. Just living for each second of each day until I grew mature and
listened to naysayers reining me in. Corralling me because I allowed them to
but now Elvis has come as my angel to remind me of how I never took any second
of any day for granted. To remind me to think of the 84,600 seconds I am privileged
to have for the days I am given them so I can be an inspiration to myself and
to those who cross my path. To remember those seconds are worth more than
money, more than gold, more than diamonds because as Elvis states, I can never
get them back again. I can never gain interest on them. I can’t put them in the
bank because at the end of every single day, they are gone. Never to be retrieved
again.
So the question then becomes what am I going to do with
those 84,600 seconds before they are gone forever? A game changer for me for
sure… Namaste Elvis. Namaste to my friend for posting his story which I am
sharing with you today and hopefully you will get a wake up call as I did from a
young man who treats his 84,600 seconds as the gift they truly are….
Elvis' link is below for your enjoyment:
