A Spark by Innocent Mwatsikesimbe from The Vision, chapter 59

Loving your life has a price, and the price is effort. “You love that which is worth something to you, that which you invest in” — so the life you have poured work into is the one you can’t help valuing. What it costs, in his accounting, is work, sacrifice and dedication.

The reverse explains why. Something handed to you in an instant, with none of your effort in it, is easy to misuse and easy to lose overnight. Innocent knows what it took for him to be who he is, and that is exactly what makes the result precious to him: he values himself because he is “a product of work, sacrifice and dedication.”

The claim runs the other way too. If you don’t value your own life, it may be a sign that you are not yet doing enough with it.