APRIL 10TH, 2023

HEARTBEAT DEFICIT$

Written By: Summer Taufer

I visited my parents at their home in Alabama this past weekend. Unfortunately, my dad is not in the best of health; in fact, this was a trip home to spend time with him before the inevitable. In the face of my dad's mortality, I spent intentional time listening to motivational speakers who spoke on hardships and the "push through" in an effort to pull myself out of my slump. One thing I heard that stayed with me:

“The human heart beats approximately 4000 times per hour. Each pulse, each throb, each publication is a trophy engraved with the words, YOU ARE STILL ALIVE. So, act like it.”

Usually, I wouldn't suggest that a talk that quantifies mortality would help pull anyone out of a slump like mine, but as a numbers person, it gave me a unique perspective on life and its value through a defined number. We're allotted only so many heartbeats. If we're lucky, roughly 2 billion heartbeats in a lifetime.

IF.

WE.

ARE.

LUCKY.

For me, that means every heartbeat must be pursued with extreme intention. Fully living in the moment means something different when the time afforded can be defined by a number that is ever dwindling.

So knowing that you've got this quantifiable amount of time on this spinning rock, a number that you are never gifted, would you say you are acting “alive”?

And, if you have the luxury of being on the proper side of the grass with the ability to take a nice, deep breath, then you’ve been afforded a luxury that many aren't or that many are seeing the near end of.

Enjoy it. I beg you to enjoy it.

Enjoy the good AND hard times. Embrace the easy AND challenging tasks. Rejoice in your success AND your failure. Winter will always come and Spring will always follow.

Good times are easy. Hardships mean two things:
1. You tried.
2. You are still here.

You pushed through and tried, and it didn’t work out, but YOU STILL DEFINITELY TRIED. Take that failure, apply what you learned to the next go-round while still always striving for success, and keep moving.

Don't stop until you've run out of heartbeats.

Also, I love you dad.