Life & Death

Currently I am reading “Tuesdays With Morrie” a book that chronicles one man’s journey of his final days. Death is one of those subjects no one wants to address or even think about. We all have some sort of feeling that we are invincible. Yet, the truth is all of our days are numbered. The book quotes Morrie Schwartz as saying “to learn how to die is to learn how to live.” There’s a deep message in that. A couple of years ago the song “Live Like You Were Dying” was a big hit for country singer Tim McGraw. The song brought up questions about how would you live your life differently if you knew that the end of it was near. I remember my writing partner Shelli and I spent many an hour talking about living differently. To really live like you were dying requires risk. It takes overcoming fear and being vulnerable. I often wonder what would I do or say if I really lived everyday like it was my last. Would things that seem mundane and routine now really feel so trivial? What message would I want to leave my friends and family members? What would I want my life to have said to others? How many unsaid thoughts and feelings would I be willing to voice? We spend so much of our lives hiding our true selves and feelings. Dealing with the doubts and what if’s of life. We miss a lot by being insecure and fearful beings. How many times have we decided not to really go for something or put ourselves out there because we were afraid? What have we lost out on or let go of simply because we were afraid to try? How many good relationships have we let go of because of fear? We are afraid of what others might think of us. We are afraid they won’t like us or maybe we are afraid that they will.

For some reason the emotion of fear has really troubled me. I see how it cripples people’s lives. They stay the same because they just can’t work through the feeling. People would rather hurt your feelings or let you down or let you go than conquer their own fears. Sometimes fears are good, they can protect us. However, fears that keep us from living a fulfilled life is sad. I’m often surprised at how many times people don’t do what they love in life or tell someone how they feel about them strictly because of fear. Fear of_______________. Fill in the blank. Fear can control our lives. However, Morrie Schwartz risked what others thought or even how uncomfortable he made them by being open and honest about life and death. Life is too short to be controlled by fear. If we were to really let go of fear what might happen? We always fear the worst. However, what if with our fear we are really letting go of the best, most amazing things that we could have in our life? Could fear be costing us our happily ever after?