Today is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life
“When death approaches any of them, they cry, “My Lord! Let me go back, so I may do good in what I left behind.’’ (Quran, 23:99) I do not know whether this verse is a part from the future or the pleading of those who left this world, but there is no doubt that the pandemic has allowed us to ask the questions that should be asked for most of us.
January 2020 was beginning to reap the fruits of 5 years of uninterrupted works, I was finally approaching the final bend in reaching my financial goals on the road I started with my main and sub partners, and I could sense the hotel chain I had dreamed of. On one hand, I was enjoying our well-established system and on the other hand, I kept running for big investment opportunities that could lead to an early retirement.
We were reinvesting almost all of what we earned in the home rental business through Airbnb, which consists of a portfolio of approximately sixty flats in to the business itself. We had decided to stop investing and save money. On an ordinary day, we were upset by the cancellation of a reservation for about 45 days-long.
The two young people who made the reservation were from China and they told us that they would not be able to travel to England due to the new virus that started to appear on the news from time to time, and they informed us about the situation 12 days before the reservation start date. It was very likely to get other reservations for the days they made reservations, after all, March was the month when the tourism season starts, our intensity increases, and our endorphin hormones starts to be produced with getting high amounts of bookings. Our only sadness was that a lengthy reservation was canceled, as this meant less cleaning work, less check-in /check-out.
The increase in virus cases in the news and the collapse of people on the streets showed that this virus was more frightening than previous viruses such as SARS and MERS. It came to my mind that those who commented on the cover of The Economist magazine predicting 2020 were talking about the possible pandemic.
The cancellation of reservations one after another by those from Italy had been a sign that the incident would come to a serious situation. Starting from studio flats at first, we started to rent our homes for a long time, after all, we could continue to rent through Airbnb in the summer, as scientists told the public that the virus would lose its effect when the temperatures rise. In a 1.5–2 month period, our entire business collapsed in a way that we could not even grasp how it happened. In order to explain the situation at that time, I think it would be correct to say that three 50-room hotels in central London closed their doors completely in a few weeks and let the employees find alternative jobs.
I will explain the conclusions I have drawn from this process in more detail in my other blogs, but I would like to mention here that we do not appreciate the value of what we have, which is imprinted in human nature and many of us cannot learn from it.
Let’s start with our family first: My mom and dad are 55–60 years old. I spent 17 years with them until I went to university outside my home town. In the following period, I spent few days with them, except when they visited me and I visited them during short holidays. If we live twenty-five more years after today and spend two weeks with them every year, it would be 350 more days in total. This makes it 1 out of 17, including my infancy I do not remember but felt their existence, so I have already used 94% of the time I spent with them in my life. This calculation gives a big warning about how valuable the remaining 6% is and how I should spend my time with them, and it pushes me to spend every minute in the best way so that I don’t feel regret.
When we make this calculation for our siblings, our lifelong friends, spouses and children, it reveals how valuable human relations are in today’s world where we tend to live like robots.
“If you have a big problem about the world, do not turn to your Lord and say ‘I have a great problem!’; turn to your trouble and say ‘I have a great Lord!’ instead“ — Prophet Joseph
You may have heard the story of the famous British singer Cat Stevens, who we know today as Yusuf Islam, became Muslim. Briefly; He goes swimming while vacationing in Malibu, the country of the islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and when he realizes that he will not be able to return to the shore after being caught in the big waves that suddenly occurs, he prays with a sincere plea from Allah for his survival. His brother, to whom he told this prayer, thinks that he is pregnant to a great enlightenment and presents him the Quran and becomes a Muslim a year later.
Each of us may not face death in such an exasperating way in our long lives, or we may not survive when we experience such an incident, but what are we waiting for to get to know ourselves? What should we be doing TODAY to not tell our children or grandchildren on the deathbed the regrets for what we did not do?
The equation of a life worth living is actually simple: (Lessons we can learn from the mistakes made by ourselves and others) + (Tears that flow not because of the regrets when we take our last breath, but the pleasure of our dreams that we did not let go without fear)
Green lights to all areas in your life!
Seyit
