Man Offers A 'Friendly Reminder' After His Co-Worker Passed Away With Leftover PTO & Money In Her 401K She'd Been Saving For Years
His reminder is an important one for all of us to hear.
Prostock-studio / Shutterstock It’s easy to get caught up in the everyday monotony of life. We often focus on whatever we need to do next, all while working as hard as possible.
It can be difficult to see beyond the task in front of us and remember that there is more to life than our accomplishments. One man reminded the Internet of this in a bittersweet video.
A man offered a ‘friendly reminder’ to focus on living life to the fullest.
In a video that has touched thousands of people, a TikTok user named LogFather shared a video that might make you reevaluate what's truly important in life. He began by telling a heartbreaking story: “We had somebody pass away in the office. Her desk was cleared out by the end of the week.”
He went on to detail what the woman left behind. Instead of being remembered for her family legacy or kindness, what he thought of was what she worked toward in her professional life.
“Bunch of PTO days still on the books,” he said. “401K that she’s been scrimping and saving for that she’ll never get to use. A pension that she was trying to earn that she’ll never see a penny from. Bunch of sick time — never took it.”
Often, when someone passes away, they are memorialized through the good they did or the love they left behind. In this case, this man turned the tables and gave viewers a run-down of all that his co-worker had been working for that she never got to enjoy.
All of this led to one final statement. “Here’s your friendly reminder: Live life.”
Photo: DaniloAndjus / Canva Pro
This man wanted to remind people that, while there’s much we can work towards, there’s only so much that we get to enjoy.
Commenters on the video left emotional responses to the man’s thoughts. “The older you get, the more valuable your time becomes,” one person said. “Everyone gets to be young, but not everyone gets to grow older,” wrote another. A third TikToker advised, “Never feel guilty for using what you have earned.”
It’s clear from a look at the comments section that the man’s message hit home. Message after message extolled the importance of enjoying what you have now instead of saving everything for a later time.
Being present is essential for good health.
According to PsychCentral, “We’re constantly surrounded by distractions, making it difficult to focus on just one thing at a time. Stress, anxiety, and regret can also make it difficult to focus on the present moment. But living in the moment, although difficult, can benefit your relationships, productivity, and, most importantly, overall wellness.”
Being more present can be as simple as taking note of the world around you and avoiding multitasking. Simple concepts that aren't always easy to do.
Because we live in a society that is so fast-paced and future-focused, it can be difficult to remember to slow down and take in what’s happening right now. But, if all we focus on is the future, one day we’ll look back and realize we missed out on a lot of life.
Although it is easy to let our minds drift to the future and all it may hold, we can’t forget to fully enjoy the life we have the chance to live right now. Living for some hypothetical time in the future will do us no good today.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news, and human interest topics.