What Matters

Kelly Burns
2 min readJun 23, 2021

And what doesn’t

A man in a suit with a white McLaren sports car. He is young and has dark blonde hair. His arms are crossed in front of his body and he is leaning on the passenger side of the fancy sports car.
Photo by Dieter Blom on Unsplash

It doesn’t matter if you make six figures.

It doesn’t matter if you drive a beautiful car.

It doesn’t matter if you have tenure.

It doesn’t matter if you have a beautiful home.

It doesn’t matter if you have millions in your bank account.

Being well thought of by others, and having status simply fades and quickly loses its appeal.

At the end of the day, all of this is meaningless.

It’s like the saying goes: No one on their death bed ever said, “I wish I spent more time at the office.”

And you can’t take it with you.

We all have to grapple with the following questions:

Did I make a difference for others?

Did I live from my heart’s passion? Or was I just playing it safe?

Was I a contribution to someone else’s life?

Was I there for my kid when he or she was having a tough time navigating the world?

Was I there for my parents when they needed me? Or was I busy working?

We all have these same questions and although work and money are important, this can’t be the end goal.

True satisfaction in life only comes from knowing your passion and using your passion to help others.

It’s hard to remember when materialism seems to rule the day drowning out your inner voice.

Don’t lose sight of your end goal.

Don’t let society’s standards and ideals rule your life.

--

--

Kelly Burns

writer and sometimes singer/composer & painter. Italian-American. INFP. I write fiction and nonfiction. www.kellyburns.com