Aaron Huizenga on taking advantage of life’s special moments

April 16, 2025 By Aaron Huizenga 0 Comments

Recently, we talked about the 306,600 minutes a year that we get to do something.

But what are we going to do with the really special ones? The single moments that really make a difference.
If you’re an ‘80s or ‘90s kid, you can hear the beat drop of Eminem right now. You’ve got one shot … one opportunity. Right?

You might even start to bob your head and bend your knees a bit.

But seriously, what are you going to do with your moment?

What are you going to do with one single moment when it is in front of you? Are you going to make a choice, take a chance and capture it?

What should you do with these moments?

These are the moments when you have to reach out and touch your spouse as you pass by them at home. To hug your children. To call your mom. To pet the dog. The simple pleasures in life that make life … life.

Did you use that moment? Did you make the effort to make a positive impact? Did you make it special in some small way, or did you let it pass without … anything?

In that case … you missed it; you let it slip.

Our lives are filled with these chances to make small contributions to others’ lives. A call, a text, a kind word, a “thank you” for a job well done or an act of service.

Please, my friends, do not be too busy and too self-absorbed to let a single moment pass.

It is the small “thank you” and acknowledgment that makes life worth living.

We are all on this crazy ride together, and the only way that we are going to get through it is together.

Many of us reading this have influence on the lives of others, and our influence in many instances is larger than we know. Saying that, please use your moments carefully; they are all critical.

I challenge each of you to look back at the last week of your life when you thought about doing or saying something kind and uplifting to someone but did not go through with it. Then I ask you, why? Why did you not speak out and say “thank you” to your server at lunch or to the gas station attendant or to your co-worker? Was it that hard to take a single moment, even a fraction of a moment, to be human?

You are a leader, a difference maker, an influencer, a partner, a parent, a positive force, even if only for a moment.

Use your moments not only for yourself but for the greater overall good of everyone.

Be the difference, be the light, be in the moment.

Let’s work on your upgrade!

Aaron Huizenga is East Division manager for Lakes Gas in Wisconsin. Reach him at ahuizenga@lakesgas.com.

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