One Extra Day

The idea of one extra day might seem frivolous to most people. In fact, it has felt that way to me for so many years. However, we should think over this a moment.

Now I'm not here to make a speech or speak about how each moment is valuable; but I will share with you what I learned from my work seminar this week.

Every year, my job has a workshop where I travel across the country from Florida to California. We usually have motivational speakers and surprise guests. The surprise guest of this year actually surprised me since he is a renowned animator who has worked on movies like Pocahontas, Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Winnie the Pooh. He is an artist who spoke about how he was the worst artist of his design college.

As he spoke about his arduous journey to being an animator for Disney, he mentioned how if we want more money, we can always get it. He said that we can pick up an extra shift at work, get another job, or sell something or make videos on social media. Money is always available.

"What we can't ever get more of is time."

That is what he said next. No matter what we do, we can't ever opt for more time. We can't request it, we can't work for it, we can't earn it, and we can't win it. In fact, the speaker mentioned something else.

"If I asked you to tell me how much you have in your bank account right now, you would be able to pull out your phone and tell me to the penny how much you have." He pauses. "But you wouldn't be able to tell me any exact amount if I asked you how much time you had left on this beautiful planet."

That all made me realize how right he is. Though this is an extra day that may seem like nothing, what will you do with it? Are you reading this and gaining something out of it? Did you watch a video, a movie, a show? Were you working? What did you do differently?

I can say that my answer to that question is that I chose to write this piece. I had been away from Vocal for a few weeks because work took the best parts of me. But what sort of excuse is that? I don't want to leave this planet and say that work took me away from sharing my words with the world. So I am taking a break and writing to you all now.

Yes, it may be cheesy to say 'take the leap' or that 'you have an extra day,' but maybe we should really concentrate on that. If you're reading this now, I want to tell you that I believe in you. I believe in what you can do and I believe in your dreams. Just keep pushing, and just know that if you keep fighting, you will make it there. Use this extra day to take a small step, even if it is difficult. Not many people have the luxury of an extra day...but you do. You can do this.

Well, that is all I wanted to share on this leap year of 2024. I hope I at least inspired some of you. I'm still in California now, finishing up work, but I return home to Florida tomorrow evening. Wish me luck. I already know that I'm going to be tired. Guess what though? I'm not fretting any of it because I know that I am blessed, and I know that I have that extra day.