S3 Ep97 Aaron Hill: Sands of Time

Transcript

Show Opening And Premise

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Fortune Resilience. Real conversations for high performers facing transition. I'm Erin Hill, and join me as I talk with people about challenge change and the adversity they've faced in life so we can learn from their experiences, insights, and stories. The chances are that your biggest successes, your proudest moments, along with your most crushing and embarrassing failures will count for nothing. Do you know the name of either of your great grandparents? And if you do, do you know the name of your great great grandparents? Usually within three to five generations, even our family won't remember our names. The average age for life expectancy here in Spain, where I'm currently sat tonight recording this, is 81 years of age for men and 86 years of age for women, according to the National Institute of Insta of Statistics. Now, personally, when I hear this, I kind of feel liberated because it makes me realize that whatever goes on within my life, people are so focused on their own, they're probably not going to remember the things that I've got up to. And I find a sense of freedom within that. There's room for more creativity and play. There's less judgment. Late last year, just before Christmas, 2025, my grandmother was taken into hospital just before Christmas. Sadly, a few days later, she she died there, surrounded by family, peaceful, warm, and loved. And it was what my mother shared with me around an insight that she had in those last few days that I'd like to quickly share with you tonight. Because of the time of year, the hospital was really busy. There's a lot of extra patients in the wards. Lots of extra viruses and infections, which meant there was no private room for my gran and the family members that were there. She had to share a ward with three other patients, and all that separated the patients was a big blue thin curtain that hung from the floor, from the ceiling to the floor. And my mum, whilst holding her own mother's hand, became aware of something. But while she was sat with her own grief and sadness, just the other side of the curtain, the other patient was having visitors. She could hear conversation and laughter as the grandkids came to visit. Various other stages, meals were wheeled in, food was served. She talked about hearing the knives and forks on the cutlery and probably cups of tea getting made as well. Doctors and nurses came and visited patients, bringing medicine and giving care, updating. And her insight was that life carries on. Time carries on. And that got me thinking maybe this blue curtain isn't just in hospitals, but it can show up in our own lives as well. Sometimes we're so focused on work or performance, we forget about the connections that we have, just the other side of the curtain. Or that we can be consumed by self-doubt, fear, fear of judgment. We don't draw back the curtain to experience what might lie on the other side in terms of adventure, excitement, opportunities. And that's what I'd love to gently encourage you to do is not to wait for tragedy to inspire action, but to go and explore the other side of the blue curtain for yourself. And that could be to try something new. It could be to express something to somebody that you know, somebody you've even just met, or somebody very close to you. Because for me, part of the gift of life is being able to experience it all. Because the chances are in a hundred years' time, our biggest successes, our proudest moments will all be forgotten. They'll have passed like the sands in a timer. In a hundred years' name, the chances are the f even our family won't remember our name. We won't always get a tomorrow. My question to you is what are you gonna do to make the most of the time that you've got left here?