I don’t think we need to be sick to realise that our lives are not unlimited. But the simple question lies on what do we do about it?
Do we spend it unresponsibly? Knowing that one day this all will end? Or do we make sure every single moment counts for something?
Amazon summarises this book into these two brief paragraphs:
Life is not about you. It’s about what you do for others. That’s the realization that has driven Tom Rath—the mega-bestselling expert in self-development research—to evolve his focus from one’s inward search for strength to the larger outward search for purposeful contribution to others. It’s Not About You is a short introduction to the next chapter in the life and career of perhaps our greatest living self-help writer.
Diagnosed with a rare genetic condition at age sixteen, Tom’s awareness of his own mortality drove him to pursue a meaningful life in the nurturing care of his family, including his eventual mentor and collaborator, Tom’s grandfather Don Clifton. In this empowering hybrid of a self-help memoir, Tom remembers and celebrates his greatest teacher as he emphatically encourages each and every one of us to answer life’s great question: What can I put into the world?
This book reminds me of a scene in John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars where Augustus was asked to share his fears and he said “I fear oblivion.” Anyone else think the same? 😂
I think the message that Rath is trying to say to us through his book is for us to not spend our lives ignoring the things that are happening around us. If we look around closely with our eyes opened and not just looking inwards, it is pretty obvious that the world is a mess and in need of a change. But it shouldn’t be our burden to fix the world.
Some people take on the world by their shoulders and sometimes it gets too much. The world isn’t gonna be fixed by one person alone.
But it also doesn’t mean that we don’t do our part.
It’s beautiful to go through life being aware of the things that surround us, to appreciate the little things we face everyday, the silly conversations that sometimes we take for granted.
I think that this book is such a good simple reminder that life is fleeting by too quickly, and if we missed it, we might not get another chance to live it.
