a talk with a good friend of mine yesterday triggered off this pondering in my head about life, living it, and what achieving the full potential of our earthy lives really mean.. for my friend, there is this concept of "life spans" - which does not actually refer to the period of our lives from the very first breath to our last.... instead, this concept of "life spans" refers to the different periods of our lives... for most people, the various so-called "phases of our lives" is differentiated by the different physical, financial, or psychological/mental states we are in at each stage.. for example, we are financially dependant when we are young, then we start working and earning and finally, (hopefully), we are comfortable and can retire... there is also the stage when we are too young to go anywhere without our parents, to when we are at the peak of our physical and mental abilities and finally, when the ravages of age catch up with us....

my friend, someone who has travelled much of life's journey and seen and experienced much, reminded me gently - as i spoke of my ambition, goal and hard work to learn and study as much about managing a business as i can now and eventually work towards owning a business - that there are certain other important life goals that i have that can only be achieved in this very same "life span" that i am in now. even when the time is through and i do achieve what i want in my career, i may then look back and find other equally important life goals neglected and hence too late by then to do anything about them... for example, fear, old age and family commitments might have caught up... or the enthusiasm might have died...

the taste of regret ... would i be able to handle it then...? as author Bradley Trevor Greive says in the lovely "The Meaning of Life" book -

"...of all the awful feelings that make you feel sick to your stomach, nothing feels half as bad as knowing you had a chance to do what you truly love, and you didn't take it."