A call with a friend I hadn’t spoken to in a long time.
Doesn’t really matter. We were in the tomb together.
That’s made for life.
He tells me about the last two years.
Stress. Physical ailments nobody can explain.
Every test comes back clean,
but his body is clearly yelling at him.
He’s 43. Wife. Daughter. Own company.
So I ask him: What’s most important in your life?
“Family. Family is my number one priority.”
Okay. What’s number two?
“The ability to make money.”
Fair enough. What’s number three?
Long silence.
“I don’t really know.”
So I nudged him.
“Do you think health should be anywhere in your top three, knowing what you’ve lived through these last two years? Because health is the thing that lets you actually enjoy number one and number two.”
He started laughing.
He knew.
He already knew.
He just needed someone to say it out loud.
That’s how it usually goes.
The answer is already there.
They just need permission to name it.
Health doesn’t compete with family and money.
It’s the platform both of them stand on.
Without it, number one and number two become cruel little reminders of what you can’t fully be there for.
The Stoics had a phrase:
(memento mori) Remember you will die.
Not as a threat. As a filter.
When you remember the body is temporary,
you stop treating it like it’s optional.
📌 What’s actually in your top three right now and what’s missing that probably shouldn’t be?
PS: Enjoy this?
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