2

Sooner rather than later I hope you… can spare some of your time to read my message… in exchange for a reflection on the little things in life we tend to over look.

Sooner rather than later I hope you… open your eyes to how fragile life really is.  It’s true what they say, you know… “Life can change, for better or worse, in a second. ” I’d hear people say that and I would dwell on it for a little; trying to absorb appreciation for life and everything around me in that moment. But those feelings would fade after a few hours, as they always do…. ironically because we get side tracked by life. The same will happen to you as you dwell on this passage for a short while until you fill your mind with other things. I hope at the end you’ll take a moment to appreciate everything about your life; where it’s been and where it’s at because where it’s going has yet to play out.

Sooner rather than later I hope you… respond to negative situations with a more accepting mindset.  You have to understand that for there to be “good” there has to be “bad.” Like opposite sides of a coin; one implies that the other exists. Like hot and cold.  Light and dark. Life and death.  The bad situations in life teach us to have appreciation for the good ones. In a way, we have to appreciate the bad for showing us the good.

Sooner rather than later I hope you… invest in yourself. Not just physically, but mentally. What you feed your mind is just as important as what you feed your body. Get rid of the toxic media pages you follow and the crude people in your life. Seek help even, if you feel you need it, because you don’t want to get to the end of your life with nothing to reflect on except negativity. Fill your mind with memories that you will WANT to look back on. Because it’s true, your life will flash before your eyes. It hit me like a flood, bursting my mind at the seams. Something I couldn’t hold back even if I tried. Starting with the earliest memory I could recall from when I was 2 years old, playing forward in sequence. Every sports team I played for, every school classroom, friend I made, every date I went on and every adventure all in vivid detail. Literally every memory I could pull from the depths of my mind, strung out on a movie reel that lasted 3 weeks. Make your memory reel a good one, I know mine was.

Sooner rather than later I hope you… narrow down what means the most to you in life. If you only had 4 months to live, how would you want to spend your time? I can’t speak for everyone, but I think the majority of what we would come up with would not be materialistic things. Like wanting to see family and friends, traveling, facing your fears of skydiving, becoming more spiritual or righting your wrongs. Some of these may cost money to accomplish, but they’re not materialistic in nature. I found what mattered most to me were things that couldn’t be purchased; family and friends, traveling and spreading the message of appreciating the time given to you. When you really narrow down what matters most to you in life, indulge in them a little. You might not be able to later.

Sooner rather than later I hope you… take the risks that you’ve been afraid of for so long. We miss opportunities in life because we are scared to jump when the opportunity is passing by. Whether it be a career change, trying something new or even proposing to the person we love. The sad part about not jumping is not only do we sell ourselves short, but we sell the rest of the world short to what “could have been.” There’s no doubt I missed some opportunities, but I’m also glad I jumped as others were passing by. Don’t let fear sell you short on your potential.

Sooner rather than later I hope you… heal from the past. We can get so hung up on previous experiences, relationships and events that we inadvertently block out new things from coming into our life. Be it our inability to let go or by putting up walls to protect ourselves. Don’t let the past harden you to the point where nothing new can enter. If light can’t get in, light can’t get out.

Sooner rather than later I hope you… indulge yourself in the present moment. Not just right now, but several times a day, everyday, taking in your surroundings. We get so fixated on our life that we don’t see the life living in parallel right next to us. Time passes us by so fast that we miss thousands of these moments each day. Try to take some of them in.

Sooner rather than later I hope you… accept that in some situations it may be better to let go than to keep fighting. Everything will tell you to not give up, but the reality is not every battle has a glorious victory if we go down fighting. I see it as a quality over quantity type of scenario. The quality of what you have left can hold more value than how long you stay in the fight. There’s no shame in letting go either. It takes a great deal of pride to admit defeat and appreciate how far you’ve come.

Sooner rather than later I hope you… notice that all you have in this life is time. What you choose to do with that time is completely up to you. Remember though, that you don’t know how much time you have left, so make the most out of every moment.

Sooner rather than later I hope you… search for and find the hidden message in my story above.  It will point you to a different story to read from. When you figure it out, I hope you continue reading chapter 4, verses 7-18.

Kyle Zurenko, 2019