Four Things Worth Doing

There I was, making a snack in a dark kitchen at 10pm, staring into the abyss and thinking about how many of us waste our lives. Truly. I wonder how many people reach their 80s or 90s wishing they had done things differently. We spend so much time chasing things that are ultimately meaningless, all while being pressured to be “productive.” Everyone seems to have an opinion on what we should be eating, reading, wearing, and doing. And so many of us listen to the noise, only to end up living a life that doesn’t actually reflect who we are.

So I paused and asked myself what feels worth my precious time. What I want my goals to be:

1. I Want To Feel alive
This one’s trickier than it sounds. I am alive. Technically, objectively, medically alive. Heart’s beating, lungs doing their thing. But feeling alive? That’s different.
Feeling alive is laughing so hard you can’t breathe, trying something that scares the hell out of you, or fully allowing your body to feel an emotion. It’s being—the opposite of autopilot, numbness, or mere survival.

2. I Want To Love And Be Loved
Feeling alive? You can do that solo. Jump out of a plane, eat weird food, quit your job. Love? Love requires other people, and other people are gloriously unpredictable. Terrifyingly autonomous. I’m personally trying to get better at the “be loved” part. Letting people in. Not deflecting every compliment or dismissing every kind gesture. It’s about allowing people to love us the way we love them.