I wasted five years of my life, waiting for the eighth day of the week.
Monday-Sunday came and went, but “One Day” never showed up.
And that’s a shame because that’s when my life was supposed to begin. My real life. The life of my dreams.
My friends would ask if I wanted to backpack across Europe.
I’d sit on my LazyBoy and say, “Nah…not right now…but one day I’ll travel across Europe.”
I wanted to do a lot of things on this one day.
I wanted to start a company. I wanted to move to a big city. I wanted to run a marathon.
The days Monday-Sunday just weren’t good enough for me. I needed another day to do the things that set my heart on fire so that’s what I did, I sat there and waited and thought maybe “One Day.”
I lived in a daydream. I sat on the front porch and would watch the world move by me.
Life was moving, I will stagnant. The only movement I made came from my rocking chair.
I was comfortable here. On my porch. Alone. Delaying life. Day by day.
But then something happened.
I broke free from the mental confinement I had created. I didn’t plan it. It happened by accident (truth be told, I was quite content sitting on my porch and waiting. It felt good. I didn’t have to face failure and sorrow and heartbreak).
It was the worst yet best day of my life.
There are moments in your life when the delusions you have painted are stripped away and life gives you a clear look at the life you have created.
It usually happens right before death.
Mine was no exception.
It was New Years and I got absolutely wasted. I’m talking about drinking Grey Goose straight out the bottle wasted. Oh you got Jack Daniels too? Well pass that over. Chase? What’s that? I don’t need it.
I drank from 10 pm to 6 am. By 8 am, I was dying.
Blood was everywhere.
The white bathroom tiles were painted red.
I was puking out my guts…and the junior chicken I ate earlier.
There I lay, stretched out on the bathroom floor. Feeling more hopeless than ever.
Alcohol poisoning? Check.
The music stopped.
Everyone ran over to the washroom.
They all surrounded me. I could feel their eyes on me. It was embarrassing. Their eyes were tearing through my flesh.
They didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what to do. I was scared. I felt like crying, but no water would come out of my eyes. Then everything stopped.
My world went blank.
I don’t remember what happened next.
I thought I died.
I saw white lights and then I saw complete darkness.
Then I heard my girlfriend scream.
I don’t know what she said because I drifted away with open eyes.
I woke up in the hospital.
My eyes met my mothers. She was crying.
The doctors were running around, but I couldn’t see any of them.
I could only see the tears rolling down my mom’s cheeks.
It hurt because I was the reason for her tears.
I got up and tried going to the washroom. My feet touched the ground, I stood up, and I fell over.
I was still drunk.
I went back to sleep.
I woke up a few hours later and finally made it to the washroom.
I looked into the mirror and I knew something was different.
A part of me had died on that bathroom floor.
But which part? Well it was the part I had been trying to kill my entire life.
Alcohol poisoning was the greatest thing to ever happen to me. Please don’t tell my mom that.
Alcohol poisoning made me realize that I had pushed my entire life to this foreign land called One Day and now I was dying without having actually lived. I hardly had any life experiences, I had little to zero memories, and I had no form of legacy to pass on. Why? Because I was a waiter instead of a doer.
This realization changed everything.
I promised myself that if I made it out, I would leave the waiter behind. I would leave him on the bathroom floor…with the bloody tiles.
And I did. He died that night.
From that moment on, I never uttered the words, “One Day” again.
I stopped delaying life. I made the decision to live.
I started a business. Moved to another country. Performed stand up comedy. Jumped out of planes. Traveled. Flew a kite. Flew a plan. Planted a tree. Played the guitar. Kissed pretty girls. Ran a marathon. Wrote a screenplay.
In other words, I lived out all the fantasies of my “one day.”
Thank you, alcohol poisoning. If it wasn’t for you, I’d still be sitting on my front porch playing make belief.
Thanks for reading.
PS. I’m not encouraging you to go out and get drunk. I’m encouraging you to face the world and take action on the things that set your heart on fire. Do it today because the fantasies of one day only come true for those who hustle now.