They say life is short, so play hard. What I have been learning is that it is important to live in the moment....to live only for today...and when possible, live like you were dying. What does that mean to live like you were dying. Does it mean to spend all your money and do things that otherwise you might consider irrational. No. Rather, it means to treat people in such a way that you won't regret if today was your last day on earth.
It also means taking risks and doing things you don't normally do. It means pushing yourself to the limit. This is something that I have been trying to do more. When I learned that a friend had cancer a few weeks back, I realized that I am not getting younger. (And my body reminds me of this on a daily basis.) What have I been doing with my life? Am I living my life in such a way that I am trying only to seek reward and acknowledgement from others or am I truly enjoying life? Am I taking risks and doing things out of the ordinary? I wasn't. Now is the time. Now is the time that we take risks. (Not stupid risks like giving all your money away....) We start letting the people we love know that we love them. We let those we care about know that we care about them. We take the time now to spend time with our loved ones. And we learn to let bygones be bygones.
What is going on in your life that prevents you from living in the moment and living like you were dying? Today I enjoy myself. I am happy as I work at a great place with some interesting and some amazing people. Today really is the first day of the rest of our lives. So why not live it that way?
Take me now Lord. I can say that, but don't actually want to die today. I am having fun and living my life the way that I want, thanks to a retirement decision. As a person who nearly drowned in Lake Michigan at the age of 12, and had reached the stage of giving up life, I realized right at that moment that it is okay to let life go even if you haven't had a chance to live for long. I had accepted death for me, and would have died that day if not for my brother who did save my life.
ReplyDeleteSo I do live every day like I'm dying, because we never know when that moment should come along.