In the movie Uncharted, two brothers muse about explorer Ferdinand Magellan’s hidden treasure. “So all that gold, it’s just gone?” the younger brother asks. “Lost. Not gone. There’s a difference,” the older one responds. “If something’s lost, it can be found.”
You may have lost your slim figure, your best friend from high school, or $10,000 in the stock market. You may have lost your trust in humans, your self-esteem, or your ability to concentrate. None of those things are gone. What’s lost can be found.
When treasure sits on the floor of the ocean for 500 years, it won’t be the same by the time we recover it. Neither will our intangible riches. You won’t look the same despite returning to your weight. Your best friend might be a different person. You’ll regain another kind of focus. That too is part of the deal.
Time won’t stop so we may conclude our search, but it’s a search we can begin at any time. No matter when something was lost, it is never too late for it to be found – and that, I find more comforting than gold.