“Life is a series of sunrises and sunsets. I enjoy them all.” – Unfinished Book

Thursday late night I received a call from my dad informing me my cousin Nadeem unexpectedly passed away. Nadeem was 53 years old, an extremely kind man, always ready to help and played a hugely influential role in my life.

At age 21 he taught me how to build computers, long before the general public even owned one. Nadeem was a great mentor and after a couple of years I started my own business career and never looked back since. He introduced me to the realities of earning money and established my financial foundations. After our business collaboration I set out on my own, fulfilled my child-hood dreams and lost myself traveling the world, searching for truth, meaning and happiness, while Nadeem stayed in London and continued earning and taking care of everyone around him.

A few months ago, after some 20 years of absence, I had this need to visit Nadeem, to tell him how fundamental he was in my life, but he wasn’t home. So I thought “ah, next time”. But there will be no next time. Nadeem’s life was business and making sure everyone in the family was taken care of. He rarely took time off or did anything but work. Last Thursday he suffered a fatal heart attack and his journey on planet Earth ended.

I will be reflecting upon this unfortunate event for many weeks, months, even years to come. My initial summary:

Don’t just work to live. ME: I don’t. Quite the opposite.

Don’t take your life for granted. ME: I don’t, quite the opposite.

People will not be around forever. ME: Huh, here I need to improve! I will begin today.