Eat Steak Everyday

Well don’t take this literally. I’m using “Eat Steak Everyday” as an analogy to a common but important lesson that I was reminded of last week.

My family and I had gone out to Elbert’s Steakroom one of the best steak places in Manila. I’ve wanted to take my parents out to a nice dinner. My dad’s birthday was coming up, I had extra money saved up and it also happens I was given the night off from work. With everything falling into place we went out for a special dinner.

To make the long story short we had one of the best steaks I’ve tried. It was a great dinner with dad, mom and my brother. My sister-in-law couldn’t make it because she was on bed rest. That would have made it better.

This brings me to the important lesson I was reminded of. I was fast asleep, dreaming of nice things. It was around 5:15 in the morning. I had been asleep for about 2 hours (I sleep late). I was suddenly awakened. I was gasping for air and couldn’t breathe. I realized that the reason for this was because the hose that connected my mask to my breathing machine came loose. Uh-oh!

I sleep alone in my room. I have a buzzer to call an aide whenever I need help. I also sleep with my phone beside me. When this happened I was lying on my side. I desperately squeeze the buzzer. It wasn’t working. For some reason I couldn’t hear the audible chime that the receiver should make.

My heart was starting to race. I was trying to concentrate on my breathing while trying to work the buzzer. I can barely breathe without my machine but now it was more difficult since I was lying down and had my mask on.

I tried to keep calm. In those less than two minutes my mind was racing through my options. I started to shout out the name of my aide. At the same time I gave up on my buzzer and was now fumbling to dial my phone. It was in an awkward position and I couldn’t swipe it to open. I realized it was upside down. Before I could turn my phone around my aide came into the room. I gestured to him that the hose was loose. He promptly connected it back.

My dad was also standing at the doorway of my room. Both my dad and mom heard my shouts and one of them woke my aide from sleep. Whew! Crisis averted. They asked if I was ok. I nodded yes and went back to sleep.

The last thought I had before sleeping though was “if I died that night at least my last meal was one of the best steaks I’ve had”.

I know it sounds funny but it reminded me of something that we all know but sometimes forget. We should live each day as though it is our last. We should take each opportunity to do the things we want and make us happy.

This is not to say that we should throw all caution in the wind and live recklessly. It just means that we should do something each day that makes us happy. Something that will make us say that this day was not wasted. If today happened to be our last day we would have no or few regrets.

We’ll never know when our time is up until it actually happens. People who are completely healthy with their whole lives ahead of them can be hit by a bus while crossing the street or something as random as that. Life is just like that sometimes. We don’t have control over it but we do have control of what we do today and how we can make our lives meaningful.

So when I say “eat steak everyday” I mean that we should do something that will make us happy each day. Whether it be something as literal as eating the best steak you can or spending time with your loved ones, making someone else happy, taking a nice walk outside, etc, just do something that makes you happy. Find your “steak” for today and eat it.

Each day is too precious to waste it being sad. So do something each day to make you happy!

* I realized that this article would be better in context. Most of the people who read my blog are friends and family who know a lot about me. For those who just happened to stumble upon this entry, here’s a little info about me.

I suffer from Pompe Disease. A rare metabolic disorder that has robbed me of physical abilities. I used to be able to run, walk, jump and breathe on my own. now I can’t do those. We I can breathe but barely so I need a machine to help me breathe twenty-four/seven. If you want more info check my about page. You can also read about Pompe here.

 

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