Hello friends .
Today I’m taking you to a small village in the South of France called Gruissan. A man is spending his holidays with his family near his elderly mother. During a long evening, the kind only summer can offer, he questions the meaning of life and the priorities he should set for himself in the years to come.
He is actually hesitating between returning to a very demanding job, requiring regular travel, or a quieter life with his wife and sons, now teenagers.
His mother then suggests an exercise in imagination.
“Imagine that your life is, in fact, a juggling act. Every day, you juggle four balls. These balls are called: work, family, health, and friends.”
“Indeed,” his son, a young man in his fifties, replied. “That’s what my daily life is like.”
“Now imagine that one of these balls—the work ball—is made of rubber. If you drop it, it will bounce. It won’t be pleasant, but it will come back. You can always catch it, get up, and start again.”
“And the other three?” his son then asks doubtfully.
“The other three are quite different; they’re made of crystal. If you drop the ball of health, it will crack. If you neglect your family, it will disintegrate. An untended bond of friendship can become strained and then broken.”
The son then understands that, in the frantic race that is modern life, not everything can be a priority. A career, while essential, cannot always play a central role because some things, if they break, are sometimes lost forever.
So the next time you feel like everything is slipping away, remember that some balls bounce… while others can break and profoundly impact your life.
I’ll see you very soon with new inspiring stories from around the world.
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Brian Dyson , former CEO of Coca-Cola Enterprises . He gave this speech at a Georgia Tech commencement ceremony in 1991.
Here is the most cited excerpt:
“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling five balls. They are called Work, Family, Health, Friends, and Spirit, and you’re keeping all of them in the air. You will soon understand that Work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls — Family, Health, Friends, and Spirit — are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered. »
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https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphael-renaux-37b5551/
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June 2025. Podcast produced by Francaisdanslemonde.fr : Radios & podcasts for French speakers preparing for or experiencing international mobility . Free mobile app available for Android & Apple, search FRANCAIS DANS LE MONDE .