Contemplating impermanence

When I was in hospital to recover of a traffic accident, I learned to enjoy the important aspects of life and to rethink values and goals.
Enjoy your life now. Savor your relationships and experiences. Find a work/life balance that brings you happiness now. Live as if you expected to live only one more week.

As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Nederlandse vertalingen van Ithaka http://www.rozemarijnonline.net/ithaka_kavafis.html

On the picture Eliza Laurillard (Rotterdam, 25 maart 1830 – Santpoort, 10 juli 1908) was Dutch poet and preacher.
He could be the author of a well known Dutch Poem
Een mens lijdt dikwijls ‘t meest
Door ‘t lijden dat hij vreest
Doch dat nooit op komt dagen.
Zo heeft hij meer te dragen
Dan God te dragen geeft.
Thomas Chatterton (1752-1770) wrote about the same in English
Too often we suffer most sorely
and thereby feel most poorly
from dreaded aches and pains.

Ithaka, By C. P. Cavafy, (Translated By Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard)
You will find more of the poem of Cavafy on http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/181782