The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it

I was listening to a podcast where Dr. Zack Bush was talking about his years working in hospice care and what the experience taught him. He goes on to describe how the people there, knowing that their lives would end soon, how they lived with such bravery, how they did not hold back and said what was in their heart without fear. They lived their lives to the fullest because they knew that at any moment, their time could be up. It got me thinking about the rest of us. Why don't we live like that? Why are we constantly allowing fear, the narratives that we have created along the way to dominate and keep us stuck, keep us in a rut, keep us small and quiet and afraid to fully allow the world to experience US as we were meant to be experienced. How do we know that we will see tomorrow? How do we know for certain that “we have time” to do, to say, to feel, to experience ALL of the things that we continue to push aside, put off, swallow, pretend to work on when we are not. What would happen if we were met with, “unfortunately you only have “X” amount of time to live”? 

It got me thinking about my own fear and the power and space I have given it for so long. I found myself thinking about things I would’ve said and done, or done differently, done the way I wanted to from the beginning. I thought about trips, and creating a business where I could continue teaching and impacting lives, time and resources to give back to communities that also needed what I have to offer. I thought about how I would've done things differently with my body, my beautiful girls, my husband. And then I thought, “ I’m not there yet [at the end], but I will be… at some point” We will ALL be there at some point. What is holding me back right now from doing the very things I wished I had done, dreamt about doing, saying the words that I wished I had said, stood up for what I believed in not to appease anyone, not to belong, but to have the world see me as I am? 

FEAR.

How long am I willing to continue to allow FEAR, an emotion, because that's what it is, an emotion, to have such great power over me? Well here I am. Creating and growing a business where I am in service of people. Where I get to connect and teach what I know, what I have experienced and allowing people to see me as I am, and holding space for them as they are. Here I am taking the risk to say “NO”, when everyone around me wants me to conform and say “YES”,  to say “I Love You” (and to fully mean it) without fearing I may not hear it in return, to embrace my body as it is going through menopause, to thoroughly love and accept myself as I am…to exhale… thoroughly. 

Here I am. 

Taking a baby step here, taking a baby step there, moving forward, with compassion, grace, and love for myself and for those around me. LOVE, that is the opposite of FEAR and what many, I believed, allowed in on their last days. Dr.Zack Bush said it beautifully as he described how these people found their courage through love to live, to feel, and to give back.

If nobody has told you lately, you are loved.

 When you say that you love yourself, what does that mean and do you have the courage to treat yourself as someone you love? Find the courage today. Find the love for yourself to begin taking one step here, one step there, to create the life that YOU want, how you want it, surrounded by those who are willing to love you even when it’s challenging. 

Start today because you are worth it. The world deserves to feel, to see, to experience YOU as you were created to be. We are not guaranteed the next hour or tomorrow BUT, we all have right now! How are you going to define “now” and how will it shape your future?