I'll be turning 36 by the end of this week, and will be the first ever OP2 community member to reach this age. I thought i should share this little anokdote with you guys, since most of you are at the doorstep of life.
Yours truly,
Eddy-B
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Pickles and beer
When the things in your life overwhelm you, when 24 hours in one day don't seem to be enough, think about the pickles-jar and the beer.
A teacher is standing in front of the class. There's lots of things on his desk. When the class started, he got up and without saying a word, took out a big, empty pickles-jar and filled it up with golf balls. When the jar was completely filled up until the edge, he asked the class if it was full. They said "Yes."
Then the teacher got a box of small marbles and poored all of them into the jar. He shook the jar, until all of the marbles filled up the empty spaces between the golfballs. He then asked again if the jar was full. They agreed: it was full now.
Now, the teacher got a box of fine sand and poored it into the jar. And of course, the sand filled up everything else that wasn't taken up by the marbles or the golfballs. Again, he asked the class "Is the jar full now ?" This time the students were very sure it was full, and nothing else could fit inside it anymore.
After hearing this answer, the teacher got out 2 cans of beer, opened them, and poored the contents into the jar. The beer filled up the space between the grains of sand. The class laughed.
When they had settled down, the teacher said: "This jar represents your life.The golf balls are the things that really matter in life - your family, your children, your health, your friends, your biggest hobby. Its the things that are so important to you, that if you lost everything else in life, except those things, you're life would still be worth living. The marbles are all the other things that matter, like your job, your house and your car. The sand is everything else, the small things.."
"When you put the sand into the jar first, there will be no space for the marbles nor the golfballs. The same applies to your life. When you put all your time and energy into the small things, you will not have space nor time for the really important things in life. Make sure you do the important things first. Play with your children. Take time to go to the doctor when you don't feel well. Take your partner out for dinner. Take time to relax. There will always be time to clean the house or to do the shopping. First take care of the golf-balls, the things that really matter. Prioritize - all the rest is just sand."
When he was done speaking, the class remained silent for a moment. Until one student raised her hand and asked what the beer was meant for. The teacher smiled. "I'm glad you aksed," he said. "It shows you, that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always space for a couple of beers."
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Cheers!
