Life to the fullest. By coming fully alive, we also help bring life to others. That’s the pursuit I keep waking up for.
And also... some big thoughts this AM.
Nearly six months deep into a quarantine, it’s easy for a lot of us to forget why we’re doing this. I’ve heard from a number of friends in just the past week or two about how they couldn’t keep going with all the restrictions, the distancing, the masks, the cancellations, that this moment has placed upon us. “Aren’t we all probably going to get this disease anyways?” one friend asks. “And aren’t we all going to die at some point anyways? Why are we so scared?”
That idea contained both a lot of truth and a lot of problems- my biggest issue being that our precautions aren’t just for our own safety, but the safety and protection of others. It’s not just a matter of how much do we want to preserve our own lives (though please, do!) but wanting to value and protect the lives of others.
One of the things he was right about, though, was that we don’t consider our own mortality enough.
Around the age of 15 or so, it was something I became intensely aware of. Not just the existence of death, but the potential it had to make everything else I ever did inconsequential. Those thoughts sparked the longest spiritual journey towards God, love, purpose, and justice, and I think that journey has no end. I’m not a morbid person, but I think recognizing our own mortality can be the start of really living.
Some of us have had to live in closer proximity with death, maybe because of the place we were born into, the body we were born with, or the tragedies that met us on our way. That proximity makes you realize we often don’t value life enough.
You can undervalue life by letting self-preservation paralyze you, and you can undervalue life by being too flippant about its sacredness and fragility.
We don’t have to fear death, but we certainly don’t need to become its ally or assistant. When we respect the limited time we get in this life, we can better honor its sacredness. When we honor the sacredness of life, we realize the value of every single day.