Thursday, September 3, 2015

The Two Most Important Days In Your Life


Recently, I have been writing articles about time and the value we place on it, in the way we live out our days. One cannot help but be challenged by the magnitude and impact that time has on us, especially in the seemingly judicial way that it is allotted to us.


Sure, there are significant and life changing events that happen during our lifetime, (such as meeting our life partner, the birth of a child, the discovery of lifelong friendships and other fortuitous events), yet none more so than the two most important days in ones life.

I can point to several humongous events that have shaped my life and the way in which I live out my days, but without doubt, two specific time frames have served to direct my life, and for that reason, I believe they are the two most important days in my life (and perhaps yours too)!


The first most important day of my life, was the day of my birth.

It took place in a season in time when the world was changing as a result of the Second World War. Resources had been rationed, my home town recovering from the re-build needed as a result of heavy and consistent bombing. Prosperity was for a selective few and communities still worked for the common good.

All of these environmental issues, served to fashion the world which I entered into, yet had little impact on the effect upon the Kairos time-frame, although it was marked by the Chronos schedule with a chronological date, which I celebrate annually each October.

Without this event, the second most important day in one’s life isn’t possible. All that life is and can be, is dependent on the magical event of conception, gestation and safe birth. The first most important day in ones life!

The Second most important day in one’s life, is equally as important. 


None of us where ever created to fill in time, or occupy space until we die. Socrates said. “The unexamined life is not worth living”, yet all too often, life is not examined by us (to the point of self-discovery) and we are the poorer as a result.

“The man who has no inner-life is a slave to his surroundings”. Henri Frederic Amiel


Many events impact the way we live and a multiplicity of circumstances shape the way we live, yet unconditionally, the second most important day in one’s life, is the day we discover WHY we were born!

I do not believe life is haphazard nor is the individual’s part which they play in it. Therefore, whilst the most important day in one’s life is life itself, the second most important day, must be the day we discover what we are to do with it.

“In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years”. Abraham Lincoln


Many people are pre-occupied with “Making a living” and miss out on “Making a life”.

My world is consumed with individuals who struggle to find purpose and meaning to their life and as a result, fill their day with pursuits rather than reason. Many have a fatalistic view on life and as such, use time as a means to an end. I believe this is living life in its poorest form.


“We do not remember days, we remember moments”. Cesare Pavese


So here’s the challenge, when all is said and done, it’s not what’s said, but what’s done!

As you are reading this article, we can assume we both share the most important day (our birth), but do we share the second most important day WHY?

Life is more about making an impact than it is making an income, and as Albert Einstein once said, “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value”.