What Is Not Valued Will Be Lost

This is the time when many people sit and think about things they can change about themselves to become better in the new year.  Rather than make New Year's Resolutions, I attempt to make New Day Resolutions and focus on ways I can be a better person than I was the day before.  Life has taught me innumerable valuable lessons, but the one that has settled within me the most is not to take anything for granted. 

I realize that while I may not have everything I want, may not have accomplished every goal I've set, and may not be in the best health, I am still alive, which means I have another chance to change my status.  Chances are some of the greatest gifts we're all afforded. 

As long as a thing is not set in stone, there is a chance. If we've offended a person, but his heart is not completely hardened, there is a chance for reconciliation.  If a person has no money but a stable mind and a will to work, he has a chance at prosperity. As long as there is no date of death to be placed upon a headstone, there is a chance for life alteration.

The problem is that many of us don't value that gift of a chance.  We have chances to treat others right but choose to mistreat them and then opt out of asking for forgiveness.  We spend money frivolously until we have nothing left and then sit and wait for hand-outs rather than making wise investments on the front end, saving some, and possibly working the most undesirable job should we run out of money due to unforeseen circumstances. We enter our places of employment with the end of the day already in mind, rather than thinking of ways to make the day better for ourselves, our co-workers, our employers, and our customers/clients.  Many of those without employment sit and wait for jobs to fall into their laps instead of diligently seeking employment. 

What is the sense in having someone to love, having money, and having life if we don't value them?

Is there someone you've loved at some point but now call him "the one that got away?" If so, that probably means you didn't realize his worth until you no longer had him. Maybe you're the one that got away. If so, you know exactly how it feels to be unappreciated or under-appreciated.

In terms of finances, we see it all the time in the celebrity world but don't see the correlation in our own lives. Superstars have everything within their grasp and many lose it in a matter of years because they don't understand the value of what they have until it's gone. So goes the same with average, everyday people. We must learn to live within our means and stop trying to live in luxury when we can only afford the basics or slightly better.

Life is probably the most significant waste we experience. We waste days being miserable with someone that we'd be much happier without.  We make friends with those who have adverse effects on our destiny.  Rather than helping us to be better and accomplish our goals, they hold us back and distract us so that our goals are rarely even our thoughts.  They show us how life in the streets can give us the opportunity to live glamorously or being magnified by our peers, with no regard for the fact that ill-gotten gains rarely remain.  People are being buried everyday, and others are losing their lives to the justice system.... Simply because they did not value what they had, the same thing that we all have: A chance.