Just Do It

If there's one thing I've learned in the last 8 months it's that life is  f r a g i l e. It's so easy to get caught up in believing that you've got your whole life ahead of you -- the long, [mostly] happy and healthy, [generally] disaster-free life where you fall in love, get married, have kids, have a career, and die of old age. We forget that tomorrow was never promised to us and that life can drastically change course in a split second.

The fact is, you never know when a bomb is going to go off. You don't expect a best friend to get a terminal cancer diagnosis, or your marriage to explode, or to get t-boned by a maniac in a stolen Prius going 90 mph. For a long time I believed the lie that the really devastating things happen to other people. Friends of friends. Close enough to cause me some discomfort without really having a direct impact on my life.

Consider me humbled. Anything is possible and I am not immune.

As a result, I'm learning to hold loosely to things and take nothing for granted. Things are things and can be replaced. Plans can change without it being the end of the world. Other people's opinions of me are none of my business (and I'm much happier not caring what they are, anyway). I'm learning to relax my grip, let go of my need for control, and take things as they come. I can't afford to waste time sweating the small things anymore.

This change in perspective has been a pretty serious wake-up call for me. Life is far too short to waste it creating a long list of "maybe someday"s. Someday isn't even a real thing. So now I'm constantly asking myself questions like why not? and if not now, when? I cringe at the thought of leaving this life with a bucket list of things I never got around to doing. I'm the only one that can make them happen. And so I find myself with this new, super cliché, Nike-esque just do it attitude. Because I can't come up with a single good reason not to.

Instead of talking about doing things I want to do, I'm figuring out how to make them happen. For me, that most often looks like just booking the trip or buying the Justin Bieber tickets. It's getting my Pediatric Nurse certification and applying for my dream job. It's training for the half marathon. It's dying my hair pink and blue and purple and whatever color I happen to feel like dying it next. It's trying new things and going places I've never been. It's letting my dreams get big and doing whatever it takes to make them a reality.

I'm not endorsing a frivolous, irresponsible lifestyle here. I'm simply pointing out that life can tend to get away from us. If you want something, find a way to make it happen. Don't make excuses not to do the things you love and dream about. Go get them, because chances are they won't just fall into your lap. Life is fragile, and you only get one. Make it count while you still can.


"Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all." - Helen Keller