Do you ever look back at old memories and think “man, I had it great! That was the time of my life! Look how young I was, look how little and cute the kids were, look how healthy I was” etc. and you didn’t fully live in the present and really appreciate what all you had at that time? Did you know, at that time, that you would once think it was the “time of your life?”

Thinking about your life right now, are you happy? Do you live mindfully, do you feel at peace? Do you appreciate all that you have? Why not? Are you fully present in your day-to-day life, or do you have the mindset of “I’ll be happy when… I accomplish this or that, or I’ll be happy five years from now, 10 years from now…?” In 20 years, you are going to look back on this exact time and think “man, I had it so good then, times were so great, look how young I was, look how much energy I had, look how thin I was!” And you’re going to wish you were back in THIS exact time. Right now, you’re going to wish you could go back in time and fully enjoy and live in the moment with what you have RIGHT NOW – TODAY! Today. This moment. So, enjoy it! Fully LIVE every day of your life! Otherwise, it’s a waste. This is your reminder; this is your wakeup call! Don’t waste this precious time right now. Don’t look back years from now and wish you had enjoyed your life more. Just choose to enjoy it right now. Appreciate that you are still alive and breathing, because someone took their last breath yesterday. Someone right now is dying of a terminal illness and WISHES they have what you have, TIME left to LIVE. Embrace wherever you are in your journey. Even if it feels like you’re stuck in a rut, or you feel down in the dumps, fully experience and live it so you remember what the low points feel like, so when a good feeling comes along, you’ll appreciate it that much more!

“I used to think the best way to go through life was to expect the worse. That way, if it happened, you were prepared, and if it didn’t happen, you were pleasantly surprised. Then I was in a car accident and my wife was killed. Needless to say, expecting the worse didn’t prepare me at all. And worse, I still grieve for all of those wonderful moments we shared and that I didn’t fully enjoy. My commitment to her is to fully enjoy every moment now. I just wish she was here now that I know how to do that.” – excerpt from “Atlas of the Heart,” Brene Brown.

These are wonderful reminders to ENJOY the time you have alive while you still can, because why not? Why waste precious moments of life sulking, complaining or being miserable, or longing for the past or future? This is your plea to not spend another day being unhappy, reserved, withdrawn, protective, or afraid of getting hurt. You WILL get hurt, whether you worry about it in advance or not. You WILL be let down, disappointed, and will fail, no matter how prepared you are, and it will still hurt. Get out there and live life to the fullest before it is too late!