Everything has its time and place!

Virtue is the habit of choosing the mean or intermediate state between the two extremes of excess and deficiency, Aristotle.

Ponder all things in life, everything has a place in the universe. You must study and work hard, there is no doubt about it. If you are lazy today, you will regret missed opportunities go by through sheer idleness and indifference. It is the story of the grasshopper and the ant that we all have been told in our childhood and is embedded in our collective consciousness:

“What!” cried the ants in surprise, “haven’t you stored anything away for the winter? What in the world were you doing for the whole of last summer?” “I didn’t have time to store any food,” complained the grasshopper. “I was so busy playing music that before I knew it the summer was gone.”

However, if you are always overwhelmed by many tasks that need to be done and busy to the point of exhaustion because of your studies, work, or other obligations you will waste your youth without enjoying life, your health will deteriorate (e.g., it can actually cause you to eat and sleep poorly, exercise very little, you are more likely to engage in binge-eating, binge-drinking, and binge watching behaviors due to increased stress), and your friends will forget you and move on as “Forever is Over” put it:

You need to breathe in the vibes, savour the moments, for soon your friends will scatter and you will be left with a fat wife, spoilt kids, and an enormous mortgage!

Or even the Bible: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ Lk. 12, 13-40.

Death is the last taboo, and yet, it is a key element that we should always keep in our minds. Enjoy the little things in life, disobey some rules, be playful, act boldly, challenge yourself to grow, love what you do, and love all those around you. You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough! (Joe Lewis).

You should not live like a headless chicken wasting your time and money doing nothing useful, without reflecting on your life, your purpose and goals, and how to reach them. Neither is it healthy to be a “super” introverted person who is always self-examining and finding dark areas in his/her personality. As with everything in life, virtue is the balance between both extremes.