Remember

I recently created a digital album in my phone titled “Remember” to help me keep life in perspective.

It has a small number of media by design:

• a few family photos
• an audio clip that made me pause and think
• and a couple media of my late father that, thanks to the album’s positioning on my phone, I’ve made a point to look at and reflect on a lot lately.

Losing him gave me a lot of helpful perspective on life. And yet some days I manage to totally forget what that experience taught me and I take life for granted all over again. I make silly choices I’ll come to regret and I avoid taking action that I should take out of fear.

The following lines from Avicii’s song The Nights have been looping in my head lately: One day my father, he told me / ‘Son don’t let it slip away’ / He took me in his arms, I heard him say / ‘When you get older / Your wild heart will live for younger days / Think of me if you’re afraid.’

So now I look at the album when I’m afraid.

It helps me remember how short life really is, even though it doesn’t always feel short.

It reminds me that I should not live in fear, and that a real tragedy awaits a future version of me if I don’t figure out how to face them right now. No amount of effort can undo a lifetime of regret.

It reminds me of the importance of insisting on saying what you gotta say, making the career move you’ve gotta make, asking for the business you want ask for, and doing all the things that excite and scare you.

How great would it be if we routinely did these things? What would the point be if we didn’t?

The Daily Spark exists for two reasons:

1. To document one idea every day that I've found helpful in my life.
2. To inspire you to discover what matters most and to take action towards it.

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About me:

I'm a second-generation Taiwanese American trying to find life’s greatest sources of meaning and make the most out of it