Man, I am sorry but we can no longer be friends!

I was relaxing in my bath before my big trip, I was travelling to another continent for 8 months. I had already packed everything and I had 2 hours to kill before my taxi arrives. I decided that a relaxing bath is exactly what I needed before a 12hour flight.

I had relaxing music playing from my phone, a bathtub full of warm water and a combination of my bath salts. I was in heaven, I admit I was keeping an eye on the clock so I will not miss my flight.

At some point my phone starts ringing, it was from a number I did not recognise. I am answering the phone and on the other end, it was a guy I used to hang out with.

I asked him how he was and he told me “I am not good, you know that I am divorcing and after 2 years we are finalising the finances and I am not sure what to do. Which of the houses shall I give her and in general how to split the finances.”

Thirty minutes into a conversation I shared with him my opinion on how I believe he should handle his divorce finances. Then I asked him how is his business is going?

He told me “business is not going well either man, I used to have twenty employees and now I am down to two, they are leaving me all the time and the worst part is I lost my right-hand man”.

I told him I am really sorry to hear that man, what happened to your right-hand man, I thought you two were very close.

He told me “Yes we are close, his daughter had an accident and died”.

I said, “that is very bad news”. He told me, “Yes it was in the news, his daughter was with her boyfriend at the train station, she got dizzy and fall into the train rail and the train hit her”.

After a moment or two I had a realisation and while I was a bit shocked, I asked him “Isn’t your right-hand man your brother in law?” he says “Yes” and I asked “Isn’t that the guy who married your sister?” he says “Yes” and I asked him “so that is your sister’s daughter?” he says “Yes”, and I asked him “So that girl was your niece?” he says “Yes”.

Then I seriously got upset and I told “Man, I am sorry but we can no longer be friends, we have been talking for almost forty minutes and instead of telling me that you are feeling bad for your niece or that you are feeling bad that your sister and your brother in law, lost their daughter, your niece, you are only worried about money.”

I hanged up the phone, at that moment I had an “aha moment”.

The most valuable asset we have is time (watch an old video I am explaining more about it here http://bit.ly/2WmpC08), so by choosing to spend time with one person you are choosing not to give that time to someone or something else.

If you are in University and you choose to invest that time in socialising, it means you are taking away that time from studying and that might have as a result not to get the grades you want. On the other hand, if you invest that time in studying you might get the grades you want and you will have a shitty social life.

If you invest time to the wrong people then you are taking the opportunity to spend time with the right people, your family, your kids, friends that will help you grow or a book you could read.

The moral of the story is if life is a bus, then think twice who you have on your bus. Because you cannot add more people on a fully loaded bus, but if you take the wrong people out, then you can get the right people on.

This story is 100% true and I am grateful to that special friend who shared his story with me.