Monday, May 2, 2011

GET BUSY LIVING OR GET BUSY DYING (Achtung Series)

People will spend most of their waking hours working and yet, there are a lot of people unhappy with their job.  Why is that?  Last week I posed this very question to my Facebook friends. 
It’s a perplexing one.  As children we are told that life is what we make it.  When we are asked what we want to be when we grow up, the sky is the limit.  Yet, somewhere between being a child and becoming an adult, dreams dissipate.  We see all the reasons why not, instead of the one reason why.  The Why Not’s become mountains so huge to overcome that compromising and finding a smaller mountain to climb becomes the accepted norm.  HOW IS THAT LIVING???
People go to school to advance themselves in life and come out with student debt.  They graduate get a car and a home and a job to pay the bills and increasing debt.  People fall in love get married and have kids, incurring more debt, so they work more.  And all of a sudden life becomes a rat race, working for the weekends.  But, remember even if you win the race you’re still just a rat.
This has become life.  Anything outside of that is the exception.
But, I dare to you BE the exception.  Life is meant to be abundant.  And it is never is too late to become what it is you wanted to be when you grow up.  I’m still a kid, and if I’m successful at it, plan to be a kid until the day I die. 
The beauty of the high jump is it is a metaphor to life.  The bar is a barrier I must clear. If I am successful the bar is raised to a new height to be challenged.  Sure, I may fail from time to time, but the important thing is that I rise to the challenge every time, never doubting, applying all my efforts and believing in my ability.  For at the end of the day, I’m on a quest to see just how high I can jump.  And in life I am trying to explore my maximal potential… how high I can go in life.  I measure my success not by others, but by how close I approach my potential. 
Sure, there have been times I’ve been tempted to join the rat race… But, in the end I’ve realized that’s a race I don’t want to win.  As I expel my last breath of air in life, I want to know I left no stone unturned and truly lived life to its fullest.  We’ve only got this one life here on earth, better make it count!
Get busy living or get busy dying,
Nicole

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great metaphor. Thanks.