Are you only working for the weekend?

Sheryl Baumeister,
Human Resources

Recently, I have been consuming a lot of my thoughts with the concept of time. We don't have a lot of it, but it has a huge impact on many aspects of our lives. For instance, my son lives hundreds of miles away, and I only get to see him and his family a couple times a year. Time can't move quickly enough in between visits, but it also moves too quickly. As time passes, my grandchildren get older, and my husband and I miss seeing them.

Time goes by quickly and I was painfully reminded of this when I read a Tumblr post by Cameron Lee. He says, “we live in a world that encourages just getting through five of the seven days in a week. That leaves only two days to be enjoyed.” I think most of us can agree that we rush through the week so we can get to Friday. But, meanwhile, we are missing out on the rest of the week. Shouldn’t we be enjoying ourselves every single day?

We all have special moments in our lives that feel like they happened just yesterday, even if they were years ago. We are all getting older, and nothing stays the same. One day, the moments that define us will be nothing but memories. That is why it is so important to educate the families we serve on the importance of memorializing their loved ones. I encourage you to be a resource. Be an asset to this industry and encourage families to Have the Talk with their families.

As Cameron pointed out, “when we get frustrated about things not working out perfectly or according to plan and we rush 5/7s of our week away; we are missing the bigger picture. Life is not some perfectly planned out script. It’s a beautiful collection of completely random and perfectly imperfect moments that one day will be memories. So enjoy them while you can, because time flies.”

For a college kid, he is wise beyond his years. He really knows what matters most in life. I encourage you to follow his lead and start talking with your family about how you want to be remembered. Keep living each day to the fullest because one day they will only be a memory.




This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.