The hottest trade in the world right now

That old feeling.

Thick smoke. Fires blazing out of control. Sirens screaming.

A text from a neighbour down the road: “What can you see? Is it bad?”

Twenty fire trucks were battling it at my neighbour’s farm across the road.

Helicopters buzzed overhead. Sheep were getting spooked.

Everything was hot, dry, and primed to burn.

And I felt … calm.

I’ve already lost a home, years ago. And when you do, you learn something fast: in a fire, you don’t grab what’s expensive. You grab one thing. And it was already sitting in the front seat of my ute.

Thanks to the hardworking, brave volunteers of the CFA, they stopped the fire at my neighbour’s farm, and with it the immediate danger to mine. 

Other people in our community weren’t so lucky. Fifty families lost their homes this month. Even more small businesses were totally wiped out.

I spent the next week helping people as a financial counsellor. At the emergency recovery centre, I listened to people replay the moment they ran. What they grabbed. What they left.

It’s always the same. They mourn the things they can’t replace. Ashes. Letters. A single photo. They were searching for the same thing: the one thing that made their life theirs. They just didn’t know it until the fire asked the question for them.

Here’s the question the fire asks, whether you’re ready or not:

If you had 60 seconds to leave your house forever, what’s the ONE thing you'd grab?

Not three. Not five. ONE.

(Aside from people, pets, and financial documents.)

Most people don’t know their answer. They think they’ll work it out in the moment.

They won’t.

So here’s your challenge:

Find your one special thing this week.

Dust it off. Spend a few minutes with it. Think about why it matters.

Then back it up, protect it, or keep it within arm’s reach.

This is your life distilled to what really matters.

Insurance replaces houses and buys you stuff that’ll eventually end up at the tip or Vinnies – but it doesn’t pay for the one thing that makes your life yours.

Don’t wait for the fire to teach you what that is.

Tread Your Own Path!