“As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn’t supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it’s harder every time. You’ll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You’ll fight with your best friend. You’ll blame a new love for things an old one did. You’ll cry because time is passing too fast, and you’ll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you’ve never been hurt because every 60 seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you’ll never get back. Don’t be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.”—Anonymous
I do not know a person who has not had to deal with some sort of loss or pain in their life. It seems to be a part of our journey. It is not what happens to us, but our response to what happens to us that impacts our temperament and affects our story. We have choices in our responses to the circumstances we face. Our choices can ultimately make us bitter, or they can serve to make us better human beings.
The invitation in the quote above is one of offering us the opportunity to thoroughly review our priorities. Do we want to live our lives from the circumstances of our past, or do we want to design our future from the abundant possibilities which we are privileged to create?
Randy Pausch, Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, and author of The Last Lecture, left us a reflection of his journey and the life lessons gathered along the way. Randy died at the age of 47 two years ago after a battle with pancreatic cancer. The lecture he gave, Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, was more about the obstetrical and challenges of this pursuit living life with intention.
In several sections of his lecture he said, “Brick walls are there for a reason. They’re not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.”
These walls can often stop us in our tracks, paralyzing our responses, leaving us dazed and often heart-broken. One can rarely predict at what point a brick wall may appear. They may come in the form of job changes, health crisis, death of a loved one, relationship break-ups, betrayal or disappointments. The question is, “Do the bricks walls of your life define you?”
Have these challenges served to make you a better person or have they left you with little more than bitter disposition? As Randy concluded, “this lecture is not really about achieving your dreams, but how you lead your life in the process of pursuing your dreams.
Take some time in the coming days and look at the pictures you have taken in your lifetime. What do they say to you? Are you living the life you dreamed or have the obstacles and challenges in your life robbed you of dreaming?
Are you stuck in the cycle of what could have been or are you grabbing hold of the dream of what could be and dedicating yourself to what it will take to live into that possibility? What do you need to do every day if you wished to begin your life anew? No matter what changes you need to make in your life, it is a formula for living. Remember to “Take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you’ve never been hurt…”
Create each day with purpose, meaning, and a thankful heart.
