I urge you now, please. This thing we have and these moments we share are only fragments of time. They are small yet valuable. Every minute we have is priceless. Life is invaluable but yet, life is this short little atom of space and time. Nothing more.
And life? All of this is only a version. This is only a vision. Me, you, the trees outside and the mountains behind my home. The city and the landscapes, the views, the birds in the sky, the sea and the valleys; everything is only a vision.
I urge you, please.
Think clearly. Put down all the common distractions we cling to. Let go of the useless arguments. Release the pettiness, and the inaccurate assumptions, which are nothing at all. None of this is anything. All we are is all we have, which is this moment and the here and now.
I have seen things in my life. I have seen great things and sad things. I have been to places I never thought possible and yet, there are places that with the exception of my dreams, I have yet to see. There are so many things I want to taste, touch and smell.
I have felt this way for as long as I have lived and yet, there were years, — no wait, there have been decades that went in a different direction. There were periods of my life that were simply untrue. There where times that I lived on behalf of other concerns. It took me decades, — or perhaps no, maybe it took me until now. Maybe it took me to this very moment to know that life is meant to be lived in full, not in fear. Life is not meant to be lived in need of constant protection. Life is not meant to be lived from behind a shield or mask or some invisible force field. No, in my best version, life is what it’s like when we are children, running through lawn sprinklers and unaware of all the complication we’ll spend the rest of our life worrying about.
And I understand the difference; I get the pros and cons, the checks and balances, the need to live and survive, to turn a profit and find a place to sleep and eat. I understand the relevance of life and that yes, into each life, a little rain must fall. There is no escaping life. No way. Pain is as real as the rainbow. Tragedy is as frequent as the newborn sun. I understand this.
Therefore, I urge you now. Please switch. Turn. Go in the direction you want to go. Do not wait. Do not let another minute pass and then find yourself, regretfully looking in the rearview mirror. Do not live in regret because you never dared, you never tried or took the chance to live. Do not be afraid to dance or sing. Trust me, these are some of the things we are intended for.
Don’t look back. Don’t miss what is in front of you.
I urge you. I beg you, please.
There is an entire lifetime out there, which means this: Do not give up, do not go gently, do not resign or surrender. Live you life and live every moment. Do not wait to be the dying person in a hospital room to say the things you’ve wished you could always say. Say them now. Do them now. Live.
I have never thought this way before. Honestly, I have never felt or thought the way I am thinking at this moment. I have this beat in my heart, which is telling me that this is not enough.
I am grateful for this. I am grateful for the realization because oftentimes, realizations come at the wrong time, and then suddenly, it’s too late. I don’t want that.
The truth is we are all so infinitely small. We are perhaps the smallest things in the entire universe. We are less than microscopic in the scheme of time and smaller than dust in relation to the billions of years that have gone on before our arrival. But to us, we are huge. We are enormous, which therefore, this moment is bigger than anything we could possibly imagine. I say this because this moment is happening to us right now.
There is no more “When.” There is only this moment. Nothing else is real. Yesterday is gone and neither of us live there anymore. Tomorrow has not happened; therefore, there is so much left to be determined.
A time has come for us to address the threshold of our understanding. A time has come when we have to simply say, no. This is not enough. There is more.
There is always more and therefore, there is more to live for. There is more to see, taste, touch, smell and feel. There is more to the nectar of life than simple existence.
There is more than our inaccurate fears and our irrational reactions to a life that we only suppose could happen. After all, what is life if we are not alive and lively?
There is too much to miss and yet, there are so few mornings like now, which is where we are. We are on the verge of a great realization. I feel as if fine, our time is only limited. I understand this. Time is finite. Fine. So be it. Perhaps, this is the point. Perhaps we should all act accordingly. And maybe this is only the beginning. This is the new version of what we see, think and feel. At least God, I hope so.
Life is not a trade or a bargain. If someone offers a trade, then hold out. Be sure to get your worth. I am thinking now about this thing we call our work life, which makes up for most of our time. We have a vision. We have goals. We have a job to do, each day. Even if we are out of work; we still have a job to do.
As for myself, I have resigned to the fact that this is simply not enough.
No, I want more. I want to feel the adrenaline. I want to feel the rush.
I want to see my face in the mirror before I rest my head and to know that yes, I did all that I could. I gave everything my all and I addressed my challenges with all that I have. I do not want to be that old man that weeps from his final bedside because I missed the chance to live, love, laugh and learn. Therefore, today, in your hearing, I commit myself to this life. From this day onward and from this moment forth, I promise to live every second. Tough or not, for better or for worse, and from now on, this will be my life . . . .
I hope you’ll join me.
The Written Addiction 