Today, think about the following question: what is a treasure that has been lost? I don’t mean gold coins. Think about it in a figurative sense. What is a lost treasure when it relates to your life, your community, or society as a whole? Read on for my thoughts on this question.

To me, lost treasure means taking something for granted. It no longer has the luster it once had because we assume it will always be there. Life is unpredictable. What we have today may be gone tomorrow.

Work can often get in the way of what matters: family and friends. All of us are guilty of this. We get wrapped up in the minutiae of our work to the detriment of our relationships with those who matter most. When we retire or look back on our lives, we aren’t going to have regrets about not working more; we’re going to have regrets about not spending more time with those we love who are no longer with us. We will regret not attending important family events or milestones in our child’s life. These are the things that matter, not conference calls, emails, or mind-numbing spreadsheets. We should always strive to be people who work to live, not those who live to work.

If work becomes your life, you will cease to live. Relationships will wither away, and life will be far less fulfilling. After being laid off from my first job out of college, I realized that my career does not define me. I’ve never forgotten that. My personal life will always be more important than my work because that’s how it should be. I don’t want to have lost treasure in the form of relationships that took a turn for the worse because of work. You shouldn’t either. Please don’t lose sight of that because it is an important lesson. Always prioritize those you love over your work, and your treasure will never become lost.

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