If there were ever a day that I'd be in the mood to write a happy song, today would be the day. It has been one of those magic of ordinary days days. (English is such an odd language.) Yesterday, I was up early and busy until I went to sleep. Today, I woke up, went to work, twiddled my thumbs, went home, worked a bit on my thesis, and then went for a walk. It's funny how life's pace ebbs and flows. I walked up to a cemetery near where I live. I walked among the trees filled with chirps of newly born birds. I smelt the pink cherry blossoms that only share their lovely scent for a few days each year. I stood among a community of people who no longer walk the earth, and I contemplated how each headstone represented hundreds of human relationships and connections that no longer existed. It was humbling to recognize the smallness of my life surrounded by those grave sites but also fulfilling to recognize the magnitude of the interactions that I daily participate in. There's nothing like nature and contemplation to get me feeling passionate about life.
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| Don't worry. I didn't smell the white ones. Source |
While walking through the cemetery, I received an email via my phone from one of my best friends that lives a thousand miles away. It read, "Get ready for an audacious story that is terribly exciting and not at all finished." She continued to explain that she has decided to stop dreaming about the things she wants in life and has made her mind up to start doing them. I've heard this friend talk about her life plans for years, but this is the first time I've heard her share concrete plans of how she was going to do it.
A while ago, I listened to a presentation by Kristen Oaks. She got married in her fifties. She gave some advice on living life to the fullest. She said that when she was younger, she put off doing things, waiting to do them when she was married. She told us to buy the nice dish set we've wanted to use to entertain guests, to go on the trips we dream of, to invest in the things we want to do. I loved that. I too often think, "When I grow up . . . " Guess what, Steph? I am grown up (or at least I file my own taxes and haven't lived at home for almost a decade).
I graduate in a couple of months, and the door will be wide open to fulfill my passions. I'm not sure which passions I'll focus on, but I want to live them. Isn't it a lovely idea that each day we have the opportunity to try out our dreams?
self-actualization: to recognize dreams and potential so you can make things happen
Cheers,
Amanda
P.S. So when we going to New Zealand? Probably when we're both not broke. :)
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