Everywhere
As my 29th birthday approaches, I've been wondering if it's possible to remember everywhere you've been in life. That's an awful lot of remembering. I'm flooded with a lot of emotion just trying to do that. Like snapshots playing quickly on a screen...snapshots of life and of everything that has made me who I am today. Is my life almost over or is it just beginning?
Which begs the question, what do we do with memories when we are called to fully live today?
Maybe I can't remember everything. But there is something that builds with all those places, people, and things. I know what it feels like to be on top of a mountain and I know what it feels like to be lost in the forest. Stuck in a storm. Stuck in situations I can't leave. Riding high on life. Wallowing in self-pity. Success I could never have predicted. Defeat that broke me. I know what it feels like to be at the end of my rope. I've held death. I've lived with eternal hope and despair, had seemingly infinite energy, and struggled with complete exhaustion. In all that amazing life I've lived, I'm just a grain of sand in an ocean full of interesting, challenging, and inspiring stories.
With those memories I've learned how to make each day better. I know that all of the little things matter. I know that people and experiences matter, because that is what inspires us...people and experiences. Not so much the tangibles. But time waits for no one. Maybe that's the tragedy. Or maybe that's the magic. It's infinite possibilities in a non-infinite time period. And what are you going to do with that finite speck of life?
Surely you don't want to live someone else's life. Surely you don't want to spend it living up to someone else's expectations. I find the only way to live that makes sense, is to say first thing when I wake up in the morning that today is my day to live. All my memories tell me to enjoy this. Soak up every ounce of awesomeness and share it with others. I am so grateful for having lived these years and I hope for many more people and experiences to bless my life before it's all said and done.
Now I only have this very moment to be present. Not everyone lives to be 29 years old. And in this moment, I will choose to be very grateful. Happy 29 years - may every single day I wake up be the best day of my life.
Which begs the question, what do we do with memories when we are called to fully live today?
Maybe I can't remember everything. But there is something that builds with all those places, people, and things. I know what it feels like to be on top of a mountain and I know what it feels like to be lost in the forest. Stuck in a storm. Stuck in situations I can't leave. Riding high on life. Wallowing in self-pity. Success I could never have predicted. Defeat that broke me. I know what it feels like to be at the end of my rope. I've held death. I've lived with eternal hope and despair, had seemingly infinite energy, and struggled with complete exhaustion. In all that amazing life I've lived, I'm just a grain of sand in an ocean full of interesting, challenging, and inspiring stories.
With those memories I've learned how to make each day better. I know that all of the little things matter. I know that people and experiences matter, because that is what inspires us...people and experiences. Not so much the tangibles. But time waits for no one. Maybe that's the tragedy. Or maybe that's the magic. It's infinite possibilities in a non-infinite time period. And what are you going to do with that finite speck of life?
Surely you don't want to live someone else's life. Surely you don't want to spend it living up to someone else's expectations. I find the only way to live that makes sense, is to say first thing when I wake up in the morning that today is my day to live. All my memories tell me to enjoy this. Soak up every ounce of awesomeness and share it with others. I am so grateful for having lived these years and I hope for many more people and experiences to bless my life before it's all said and done.
Now I only have this very moment to be present. Not everyone lives to be 29 years old. And in this moment, I will choose to be very grateful. Happy 29 years - may every single day I wake up be the best day of my life.
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