There was once a young boy who sought treasure, fame, and glory. He believed that all his problems would resolve, the emptiness, the need for approval, and love once he had attained these three things.

The boy sought acceptance, validation, and approval from others just to be liked. He didn’t do things for others, it was always for himself. He always wanted to be the center of attention and glory. He wanted to move mountains and conquer the world for all the love and admiration that would bring him from others.

Until he was stroke by sickness. All the admiration, treasure, fame, and glory he had once longed for seemed to be meaningless in the face of death.

At that moment he realized that the most valuable things in this world were not things, but people and their genuine love and affection. Not admiration but true genuine compassion and empathy. The wealth wasn’t in material things but in every second that stretched in front of him and before him. Time was the most valuable alongside the people he got to share that time with. All this time he was hunting down the next thing that’d hed never made time to appreciate what he already had.

Coming to terms with his mortality and the lesson bestowed upon him by life. He made a promise to himself, from here on out he would seek not validation, but experiences, he would not only take, but also learn to give, he would show gratitude for every new day and never take them for granted. And finally, he would live in total and absolute honesty with himself and the rest of the world.