When you hear the phrase “live life to the fullest” what do you think of? You might ponder the idea of cramming as much into your day as you can, whether it be with work, house cleaning, doing laundry, taking care of the kids, getting to the gym if you can, walking the dog, paying bills, getting schoolwork done if you are a student, checking Facebook, watching TV or running errands, with the hopes of getting in a hot shower. However, that is not how I perceive the phrase “live life to the fullest.”
For me, especially since my diagnosis, living life to the fullest means so much more. Yes, a lot of the things mentioned above are things I do on a daily basis, however, I look at life as a precious gift. It’s not just about what we do with our day, but how we act through it. Are you mindlessly running around and not really getting anything done? Are you griping about the traffic? Are you constantly running late? Are you upset that your favorite shirt didn’t make it out of the wash yet? Are you complaining about gas prices, politics or the weather? Are you worrying about the future, which isn’t even here yet? Seriously, if you are, take a moment and realize what you are doing with your day. Life can change in an instant. Believe me.
Most of you have been excited to have a loved one come for a visit after not seeing them for a long time. Or maybe you were the one visiting? Whatever the case, you have to think about the visit. Did you spend the entire visit worrying about the last day? Or did you forget about it and live in the moment each day presented you? Did you feel sad the entire time knowing the visit would come to an end eventually, or did you live in gratitude for the experience? This is life, my friends. You have a choice. You can focus on the trials in life or you can focus on the things you have to be grateful for. Why ruin the journey with unnecessary negative thinking and worry? No, not every day is going to be good. But there is good to be found in every day.
I have found in my moments of feeling ungrateful, which is not often, that when I write a list of the things I am grateful for, especially right before bed, my thoughts completely change. And this has brought me to a place where if there is a slow person driving in front of me I feel grateful for the fact that they could be protecting me from something ahead; a child in the road, a deer crossing the street, an accident…all things we are unaware of or we just do not think about because we are too angry that the incident is happening in the first place. Choose to be grateful that you have a car, that you can drive, that you can afford insurance and gas. There are people in this world who have to take a bus or walk (some ride a motorized wheelchair because they cannot even walk) wherever they need to go. Do you get it? Too many people take these simple things for granted and are just too focused on the negative when things do not go their way. We have control over two things in our lives. TWO. They are our choices and how we act/react. And my dad has always taught me that life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react to it. I am so grateful for that lesson, because focusing on the good brings so much more good into your life. Why don’t you give it a try? Make life worth living and enjoy every moment while you can.
Amy Musser, a Hellertown resident, is a spiritual adviser and the owner of The Angel Whisperer based at Sacred Space. She was diagnosed with grade 3 astrocytoma, a type of brain cancer, over the summer. She documents her progress fighting the disease and shares inspiration on her Facebook page.
