A short, first-person YouTube monologue by Chad Silverstein ("Day 22: Zoe...") urging listeners to value non-material gifts—health, senses, relationships—over material possessions. He argues that things with price tags are replaceable, while innate and relational blessings are not, and issues a wake-up call to reprioritize, write down one’s beliefs about life, and take concrete, sometimes painful steps to change.
Chapters
In my worldview, I have a statement that says that everything in life with a price tag is replaceable. And to me, it means a lot. To you, it may not mean that much, but it has a lot to do with this day in the book because it has a lot to do with what I believe about life. And that is that when we're born, we're given things for free. Things that we take for granted, things that not everybody gets. Majority of people get them. Your eyes, your senses, two legs to walk. We take that stuff for granted. And yet there are people today laying in hospitals or in countries where they can't get help and they'd love to have our problems. And it's something that we, as spoiled, entitled people have just, I guess, gotten accustomed to just being used to. But it's not something, to me, it's a miracle that we have every day get to wake up and do what we get to do and get out of bed and stretch and be able to use our eyes and have the things that we have and to hurt yourself or get cut and to heal. These things are all given to us for free. Yet the things that we put so much emphasis on throughout our day and throughout our life are things like cars and houses and jewelry and things with a price tag. And yet I've watched people and some of my friends lose everything and rebuild. And I've seen people get divorced and have to give away everything and rebuild. So you can rebuild things that have a price tag, but those things that you get for free, that are built in from the day you're born, the things that you get today from the love of your family, your kids, your parents, your brothers, your sisters, those things cannot be replaced. And if you're not making the most of those things and you put more emphasis on things with the price tag, then you have your priorities mixed up and you need a wake up call. So this is my own wake up call to me to remind me and hopefully it'll shake a couple other people who are hearing it. But you got to get clear on what you believe about life and why you're here. Because we don't know how much time is left. I've always said we think we're going to live a long life. You feel like you're invincible if you're young. But the bottom line is you're not guaranteed another minute. You have no clue what's going to happen tomorrow, later today. And just because you can't see the clock ticking doesn't mean it's not counting down period. And so making the most of every second that you have and knowing that every day is an opportunity for you to make changes. If you want to change your life, then you actually have to make changes. And it's going to be hard and it's going to hurt. That's the only way to make changes. It's not going to happen. From being comfortable or waiting around for when you feel like it's going to be time to change, you actually have to do something about it. And so what you believe about life and how you attack life and the zeal you have for life, it should ooze out of you whatever it is that you're passionate about and whatever it is that you're aiming at. And if it's not, then it's time to shift and make changes. And that means that you're probably in a dull or you're living an idle life and you're going through the motions and. And it's no way to live. And it's a way that you'll look back and regret. And it's not worth living life that way when you only get one shot at it, one chance at it. So make the most of it. Get clear on what you believe about life. Get some writing done on that. Share it. If not, you don't have to. It's your choice. And keep writing, keep going.
