but did you die?

I recently bought a sweatshirt that asks this question. I absolutely love wearing it. I think because I see how many people walk around this amazing life we are given and simply complain. They just can’t seem to embrace the wonder of truly living.

Maybe that is because most of us don’t truly live. We simply exist or worse yet, subsist.

Truly living involves embracing and accepting the everyday. The things that seem mundane. The things we take for granted. Like the sound of rain hitting the roof or windowpane. Or a bird resting on the porch railing. The welcoming smell of fresh coffee. The soft voice of a loved one. The comforting embrace and touch of a friend. Each and every one of these things remind us of life, but do we appreciate them or even acknowledge them?

We lose ourselves in the hustle and bustle of just surviving. We go to work, hope we make a difference, and then retreat home. But oh, there is so much more.

Have you ever made a meal with someone? Where you talk and laugh and share while working alongside each other. I think it is so intimate and precious. Intimacy is so much more than physical. It is truly knowing another person. Being vulnerable. Letting them see the real you. The messy and imperfect you.

I savor things like that. I crave them.

Have you ever made the time (yes I said made the time) to take a walk and just absorb all the beauty that surrounds you?

I believe that we get restless and even resentful at life and complain about what we “can’t” do when in all reality we CAN. We just choose not to. We have to come to the realization that we can do whatever we want and we do make time and space for what matters to us. Maybe we just need a refresh. A new perspective. A better outlook.

Maybe we just need to slow down and embrace those we have in our lives and experience truly living together. Life IS meant to be shared. It is meant to be lived fully and wholly.