The lesson of the five balls

Someone forwarded a link to me and i thought i would share it here as a reminder to myself:








Imagine that life is a game in which you are juggling five balls. The five balls are: family, friends, health, integrity, and work. And you are keeping all of them in the air. But one day you finally come to understand that "work" is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four---family, friends, health, and integrity---are made of glass. And if you drop them, they will crack, chip, or shatter. Once you truly understand the lesson of the five balls, you will discover balance in your life ---James Patterson

It's from a blog and a reply to a comment was:

Friends, family, health, integrity.....you must care for these balls more than you care for that ball of work. Jobs come and go. Work is the means to an end. Bottom line: you work = they pay you, that's why you're there. There will always be other jobs. There will be jobs that you like much better or much worse than other jobs, but you can always find SOMEthing to do for wages. But family, true friends? Those aren't so easy to come by, those deserve the best treatment, the most care. They deserve the best you have to offer them. Abuse your health too much or neglect it for too long and you won't be able to get it back. And your integrity? What happens to YOU when you damage that, to your self-esteem, to your attitude about yourself and everyone around you? (http://people.tribe.net/suchadreamer/blog/331d0796-b925-4526-861a-6964a151f5c9)

Thinking how true this is...