A Near-death Experience

A Near-death Experience

I have always heard how deep and significant an influence a near-death experience can have on a person. I too had a near death experience and its impact on my life, and how I perceived it was profound. Before this important life-altering event happened, I was a completely different person and there were only a number of things that really had significance in my life. My profession was of utmost significance to me and I was obsessed with climbing up the corporate ladder. I was hard-working and dexterous which I highlighted as positive traits. However, my diligent and hard-working disposition had become my obsession so that I was too deeply engrossed in work to establish a loving and affectionate relationship with those who were close to me and cared about me.

I have lived with my family for virtually my whole life and there have been some bad times and some worst during this life long period. I have a teenage daughter, a mother, and other siblings and there is a close bond among all the members of our family. However, I was always a reserved person by nature and this meant that I never socialized much with anyone. After a hard day's work, I found myself too exhausted to establish a conversation with anyone at home. This meant that asking my teenage daughter about her day at school or sharing my own personal experiences of the day with my mother was out of the question. My office life was the only thing that mattered to me and professional growth was the ambition that I was working too hard to pursue. Moreover, because I was completely drained of vigor by the time I reached home, I was usually in a very cranky and unforgiving mood. This reflected in my behavior towards my mother and my teenage daughter. It shames me now when I confess that I was indifferent towards their lives and did not interact much with them, even when we lived under the same roof.

Out of the five things that were of utmost value to me, four were those that had monetary value. For example, my mother was the most important thing in my life and there was no denying the fact that I love her more than anything in the world. However, I had a funny way of showing it. Among the other things that were of importance of me were my watch and my cell phone. My watch was the most prized possession that I had. It was a genuine Rolex Oyster that had cost me a fortune to purchase. Now that I think of it, I do not really remember why exactly I purchased it except to show off at work and create a favorable impression upon my colleagues I the office. Purchasing a state-of-the-art cell phone had a similar motive for me.

This is how I looked at life and everything that surrounded me. I believed that everything could be measured in terms of ...