Living Fully

Every day that we are blessed enough to wake up, we have a choice. Get out of bed and attack the day in the best way is the choice I usually make but have surely had my struggles with.

The older I get, the more reminiscent I get. I look back on the good times, the bad ones, and everything in between and feel all the emotions. I miss the good times, want to relive some or a lot of them even, at times i’ll contemplate reaching out to the ones who made some of those memories that I’ve grown apart from. I think of the things I’ve learned, overcome, how much I’ve grown as a person in even just a year.

Something I never do though is feel any sense of regret. Sure I’ve encountered some unfortunate things. Some of which at one point I would’ve done anything to go back & undo. But as I get older, I’ve accepted I can’t. The one thing I’ll never get back is time. So all of those should haves and would haves and shouldn’t haves, they’re gone. And if I’m always looking back, chances are I’ll trip over what’s in front of me. Anyways, everything happens for a reason and what’s gone will come back only if it’s meant for me.

I’ve made it my life’s mission to live my life in one word: Fully. How you measure this word is in one’s own terms. What fills up your cup, could & probably is, much different than mine. And I strive to fill mine to the brim in hopes maybe some will trickle over. Days (or as much of them as possible) should be filled with the things that bring some type of value. I find myself questioning what makes me laugh? Do I need to get out a good cry? What will bring me peace? How can I find happiness in this simple task? I am consistent in my prayers, because I know if I’m not so sure of these answers, He is. He will bring to my life exactly what I need and I trust Him.

I strive to better myself everyday. But not only myself, all of those I come into contact with. I want to leave people better than I met them and always bring a sense of warmth, sunshine, inspiration. Someone said to me once, "the best thing you'll ever be is the dumbest one in the room that way you'll never stop learning." Not only do I strive to learn, I strive to teach and touch others, try new things, take chances, explore the world and find what really lights up my life, I simply want to live a life with no regrets, one where I don’t look back and wish I would have done more. So do I choose to start now. Do it fully. Give it your all. God’s got you. You’ll never fail.

Turn the volume up, put the windows down, say yes to that date, book the flight, take the job, have the cookie (I promise the calories won't kill you!), don't forget to pray, always say I love you, and do a cannon ball into the deep end of life. Things may not always go as planned, but the unexpected is full of opportunity greater than you could ever imagine.

While you're doing all this living, don't forget to love big too. Not just others but yourself. When you're tired, rest. When you feel cute, go out on the town. When you hate your job, quit. Life is too short to not do what makes us happy. You never know what the future holds and you never will if you don't go for it. With God, anything is possible. Don’t go to bed mad, be blessed you had today, tell the ones you love just how much and often. When it comes to loving there is no such thing as too much.

So I challenge you, have the courage to live the life that is truest and most authentic to you. Don’t hold back. Find your joy, not in the “supposed to’s” but in what makes you feel alive and hopefully we’ll look back and think “wow, what a full life we lived.”