I recently sat through a service celebrating the life of a colleague who’d passed away and recognized a crucial exception to the magic of the ‘do-over’ about which I recently mused.
While we can redo a conversation or interaction that wasn’t an authentic reflection of ourselves, we don’t get a do-over for this thing called life. We don’t get a do-over for the sum total of all the individual experiences that will comprise this earthly journey we’re traversing.
The touching and funny stories shared in my friend’s service added bold exclamation points to a life that clearly had been lived to the fullest. This was someone who’d claimed the authentic story of his life in every area, from family and relationships to career and spiritual devotion.
I’m grateful not only for the opportunity to share in honoring a great life, but also for the poignant, inspiring reminder to capitalize on every moment of this precious gift that each of us has been given.
If we aren’t already living a life we love, it’s incumbent upon us to start now. Not next week, next month or next year. Now.
None of us can take for granted how long our lease on life will run.
This friend’s lease expired at the age of forty-nine. Decades ago, my father’s lease ran out ten days before his forty-sixth birthday.
Someday is not a strategy for catching the tail of the shooting star of our dreams. If we don’t go for it now, there’s no guarantee of if and when we’ll have another chance.
Depending on how big is the gap between the life we currently know and what we’d love, wholesale change may not be possible all at once, but there always are steps we can take right now with what we have. And we always have way more than we think.
Limitations are bound to pop up to try and hold us back, but we can break through common stories such as lack of time or money or the disapproval of others. There are things we can do to activate our dreams right now that don’t have to cost a thing or require a lot of time, things we even can do discretely until we’ve gained enough traction that a disapproving loved one can’t derail us.
Start researching and planning that trip of a lifetime that’s long lived in your heart. Check out classes at the local university or trade school in the vocation you’d love. Volunteer someplace in the community to support a cause meaningful to you.
Magic lays in taking that first step that inevitably gives way to other ideas and possibilities we couldn’t see from where we were stuck.
Most importantly, put to pen and paper the dreams that are the authentic story of your life. Through the visceral action of writing out what we’d love, we give tangible form to the dreams borne of our imaginations. The Universe witnesses our written declaration and conspires for its manifestation.
Don’t lay the authentic story of your life to rest before it’s even been lived.
Go ahead. Start claiming your story now. There’s no guarantee tomorrow will come.
