In these last few years, I, or those close to me have lost loved ones at an early age. For me personally, the effects have been rather life altering. Each day is a gift from God, to be treasured, appreciated and put to good use! If you knew with certainty that, let’s say yesterday, to avoid superstition, was your last day on Earth, would your gravestone read, “No Regrets”? My brother died on June 25th, 2011. A client in Virginia passed away suddenly at age 43, leaving a young wife and two small children. While to say they might have had regrets would be speaking for them, I am confident they would both say there was much more they wanted to accomplish, experience, teach, learn, and enjoy. “Gone too soon” is a phrase that comes to mind.
Many of us are caught, or in some cases trapped, in lives we did not see for ourselves, places we never thought we would be. Even more are enduring lives of despair, depression and quiet desperation, feeling powerless to effect any real change. We’re with people we either don’t recognize or desire to be with, stuck in a job (if we have one) that we no longer enjoy, or some combination of both! I see it on a daily basis in the eyes of parents, both young and old, pushing strollers, walking the dog, and going to work.
For some, it will take tragedy and despair, pain and suffering to break this gridlock, while others still, will forge on, never really appreciating their ability to chart a different course. Ever consider that maybe the person in the office next to you or your neighbor across the fence, is living in their own personal hell? Ever ask any one of them, “if you could do or be anything right now, what would that be?”
For me, I’m hoping that my 50’s are truly the “new black.” The tragic losses I mentioned earlier affected me deeply and permanently. Going to dinner with Logan last night to one of my favorite Baltimore restaurants confirmed this. I even mentioned to Logan that the experience inspired me to write this message! Life is for the living, but ask yourself: are you? I will leave you now, as I head off to church, with this beautiful quote by Khalil Gibran, one of my favorite authors:
“Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.”
Start living, my friends!