We all work hard to make a better life for our family but we must not lose sight about what is important to actually live each day to the full.
My name is Abi Motala and I want to tell you why I am writing this article. I am battle-scarred from dealing with the trials and tribulations of living through an extremely challenging period of my life, during which I was besieged by personal traumas involving career setback, business failure, stress-related health problems, tax investigations, the premature death of four siblings and the early demise of key business associates.
Living was awful.
I was driven so close to the edge of the abyss that, at one point, suicide seemed a very attractive option. To this day, I am in awe of the mysterious, inner force that stopped me from giving up on my loved ones, and taking the cowardly way out.
This inner force has, since that fateful day, been guiding me to a contented life full of richness and appreciation.
You see, prior to my period of excruciating pain and anguish, I had been blessed with good fortune but, I had taken everything in my privileged life for granted. I was not happy. I was acquiring wealth but, not richness. Certainly, there was no richness in me either in spirit, or in the quality of my life.
I was like the man who knew the price of everything and the value of nothing. I had a caring wife, three wonderful daughters, a beautiful home and yet as a business-obsessed workaholic there was no self-appreciation of anything in my life. I wanted more, and demanded more from my nearest and dearest. I was invincible. I was immortal, and I was prepared to pay any price to be successful.
My period of torment has taught me that we may not have control over what happens to us in every season or cycle of our life, but we most certainly have a choice as to how we deal with everything that happens to us.
Having experienced both the highs of success and the lows of failure, I have finally realised that living a life that matters is not down to circumstance but one of choice.
Ready or not, someday it will all come to an end.
There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days. All the things I have collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else.
One's wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.
It will not matter what you owned, or what you were owed. Your grudging resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear. So too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will expire. The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.
It won’t matter whether you were a good golfer, successful investor, a beautiful person or simply a brilliant individual. It won’t matter where you came from, or on what side of the tracks you lived. Even your gender and skin colour will be irrelevant.
So, what will matter? How will the value of your days to be measured?
What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built; not what you got, but what you gave.
What will matter is not your success, but your significance.
What will matter is not your competence but your character.
What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.
What will matter is not how many people you know, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you’re gone.
What will matter is not your memories, but the memories that live in those who loved you.
What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.
I have created a website to help me share with you the success Principles and Strategies for Fulfilment, Health and Wealth. I do sincerely hope that you will drop by and make my day.
“Success is the reward at the end of the path taken by the person of perseverance.”
Abi Motala
