"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life." (Steve Jobs)
A few sentences arrested my attention the other day when I was half listening, half day-dreaming, in front of the BBC news programme. They were showing a clip of Steve Jobs (recently deceased co-founder of Apple) addressing a room full of students at their degree ceremony, sharing the benefits of his wisdom, learned painfully from fighting the cancer which would eventually kill him. Jobs' point seemed to be that during his serious illness he underwent a reassessment of his life that caused him to realise that much of the course of one's life can be misdirected down a hundred and one paths that do not reflect the true nature or 'calling' of the individual. Life is too short, Jobs seemed to be saying, to waste it on things that are peripheral, trivial or just out of tune with the life for which one is suited. It is important to follow the heart and to follow one's intuition, which will lead to the fulfilment of one's own real potential and individuality.
We often hear of Job's patience (long 'o') - or the 'patience of Job' if you aren't sure where to put the apostrophe! Only recently have we heard of Jobs' wisdom (short 'o' and the apostrophe after the 's'!). Following my own heart and intuition does not lead me to buy an I-pad or I-phone - I'm impressed with the creativity which produced them but am not particularly attracted to the technological world. We are not all the same. However, I am heartily in favour of the man's philosophy of life. 'Use it or lose it', I have only one life and, as Steve made clear, only a limited time span to develop it, so I am resolved, before it is too late, to live my life as creatively as possible in the hope of becoming that unique (and annoying!) individual that I am destined to be! Watch this space...!
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