Smell the roses

A long time ago, there was an Emperor who told his horseman that if he could ride on his horse and cover as much land area as he liked, then the Emperor would give him the area of land he had covered.

Sure enough, the horseman quickly jumped onto his horse and rode as fast as possible to cover as much land as he could. He kept on riding and riding, whipping the horse to go as fast as possible. When he was hungry or tired, he did not stop because he wanted to cover as much land as possible.

It came to a point when he had covered a substantial area and he was exhausted and was dying. Then he asked himself, "Why did I push myself so hard to cover so much land? Now I am dying and I only need a very small piece of land to bury myself."

The above story is similar with the journey of our Life. We push ourselves very hard everyday to make more money, to gain power and recognition. We neglect our health, time with our family and to appreciate the surrounding beauty and the hobbies we love. One day when we look back, we will realise that we do not really need that much, but then we cannot turn back time for what we have missed.