To me, “I” usually means everything.
My glasses, my watch, my breakfast, my shop or my job – none of it means anything without me. Looking after myself is the most important thing in the world, and it ought to come first.
And yet many of us, myself included, put something else first, driving ourselves on while neglecting ourselves. That’s not how it should be. Whatever comes before ourselves shouldn’t be something worldly.
We should remember that we arrive empty-handed and leave empty-handed. We shouldn’t forget how fleeting the time we’re given really is. In that brief span, what we truly need to look after and cultivate is ourselves.
A person’s character and wisdom are what’s genuinely worth having, worth cultivating. Material things are just material things. Is the most expensive watch or car meaningfully better than the cheapest one?
Looked at in the present moment, the difference might seem real, but if we remember how fleeting our time is, and view it against the whole span of human history, that difference can amount to splitting hairs. How laughable do the functional differences between watches or modes of transport from just a few centuries ago look to us now? Barely any difference at all.
People of that era would have lived better lives had they put their energy into character and wisdom rather than into the watches or carriages of their day. And the same holds true today. Chase value and meaning, not material things.
If the influence of just one person – me – gives positive, constructive help to two or more others, then that’s a life, and a time, well spent.
Let’s look after the people around us properly. Let’s extend that positive influence even to people we barely know.
Let’s spend our precious time striving to become someone capable of that. And above all, let’s look after ourselves well.