Why We Should Focus on the Keystones of Life

[Applause]

have you truly realized

deep down that one day this life that

you have

is going to be over that you will have

nothing left

the response i might get from you may

very well be

yeah obviously but believe it or not i

actually forgot this

scientific fact two years ago when i was

stressed

upset and angry at myself i was really

stressed out about school

i was worried about being compared to

some of my friends

and i couldn’t solve a math problem

these are real first world problems i

know but at that time it seemed like

my whole world was collapsing that all

these terrible things were just

happening to me

and i wasn’t in control of anything

and then realization struck me and this

realization

made me say out loud we all will die

my mom stared at me like i was crazy

but i realized that at the end of my

life i will die

and all these things that i’m stressing

about won’t matter

they won’t have that long an impact

those were the very words i spoke when i

remembered

that death is what becomes of us all

after all the sadness frustration and

emotions we experience

and overcome in our lives

it was then that i realized

that death doesn’t lead to depression

but rather it takes you on a journey of

self-discovery

reflection and ultimately happiness

it leads to finding meaning in life it

leads to being fulfilled in life

and it leads to happiness

many people know death as a solemn topic

it is seen as an end to your agony

a finish line but i think death

reminds us of how precious life is as a

wise friend of mine once said

we all think about death once in a while

so let’s think about this

positively until a certain point in our

lives we all have this

blissfully ignorant period where we have

yet to realize our own

mortality that we are not invincible

or immortal usually this state of belief

continues

until someone we love is taken away from

us

or we have a health scare or we simply

grow up

experience life and realize oh wait

all this might not actually go on

forever

but i would argue that describing this

state as bliss

is an error because when we properly

realize that we will die we remember the

fundamental questions

of life questions that can literally

make all the difference between just

running through life

on autopilot mode and living a life that

you love

and that you are proud of am i doing

what i love

could be one of the questions that

surface in your mind

in our day our hours are mostly split

between work

and rest and as students study and rest

and to learn to love what you do and to

do what you love requires for a balance

but this balance is hard to fulfill

because both are equally important

as steve jobs once said i have looked in

the mirror every morning and asked

myself

if today was the last day of my life

would i want to do what i’m about to do

today

now of course the answer to this can’t

just be yes every single day because we

can’t just do what we want

and hence the second part of this quote

and whenever the answer has been no

for too many days in a row i know

i need to change something

when i think about this quote i realize

how important it is to having

an am i happy on my to-do list is

equally as important

as say math homework

it was then that i realized the

importance of focus

and about putting greater weight on the

keystones of life

keystone such as happiness family

faith and love math homework is nowhere

near that list

so perhaps it deserves less weight

i’m not telling you that homework is

unimportant but maybe

just maybe it isn’t worth stressing

about and crying over

because there are so many greater things

in life that one should have

and seeks to have okay now this analogy

on homework is only an example of an

aspect of your life

that is important for you to focus on

your happiness

but it goes to show just how important

it is to have focus in your life

and to focus on the right things

focus is the gateway to thinking

focus is living and thinking in the

present

focus in the sense where you concentrate

while doing a math problem is important

so you don’t make careless mistakes

but it’s also important to focus on the

right things

and only you know what is truly

important to you

so i am here standing before you to

remind you

that you will die so while you live

focus on the keystones of your life

thank you

you