I don’t know if it was a moon cycle or the wrong crowd, but everyone I passed by the other day exuded palpable despair. It was like they were walking, but not really alive. You could see in their eyes that all of the life had been sucked out of them. And it wasn’t just a person here and there but all of them. So I asked myself, what happens to a man or a woman where they reach that state? Did they not see any of it while it was happening to them. And, for what did they trade away their lives? Some horrible thing that happened to them? Some pervasive lasting negative condition or circumstance? Some guilt over a long past mistake? A never ending sense of fear and anxiety about this life? Indeed something has truly gone wrong in your life if you reach that stage. This life is to be lived to the full and it can only happen if you don’t lose your enthusiasm.
You lived long enough by now to understand some of the dastardly things that happen to people. You may even know people that have suffered unimaginable losses. Many people exclaim, “that’s just life!” But is it? Could it conceivably have been a part of life’s plan? Nature alone begs otherwise. Life thrives and overcomes and prevails. Life is energy. Life is the animation of inanimate things. The enthusiasm that naturally accompanies life is only lost by theft. Something or someone steals something little by little every day until the whole house is threadbare. Unless the owner at last wakes up and realizes what is happening to him. Enthusiasm is lost in small segments of life. It is not paying attention to that nagging little negative voice in your head and not scolding him appropriately. It is to give over your enjoyments in life in favor of something safer or reportedly more worthwhile. It is trying to master a role that is not you and keeping up the act until your last dying breath. It is fear given free reign to control and subtract and to slow down and to eventually stop you from moving. It is remaining stuck on some past failure, some past loss, some past heartbreak, some past event or occurrence or happenstance that claimed to change the trajectory of your life. It is forever living in the terror of tomorrow waiting until it is time for your catastrophe that has been coming and coming and coming. These are all the things, and of course a multitude more, that steal your life from you. They take what is yours every single day. They convince you to shut up and play small, while smacking you back down if you dare to play big! If you are going to be someone, be Harvey Specter! He lives life up here! Seriously folks, it is high time to get your enthusiasm for living back. It is time to wake again in the morning with a sparkle in your eye, an excitement in your step, an enthusiasm and anticipation for the day. Those aren’t feelings reserved for the youth, but they are a breath of fresh air when we perceive them. The difference between the young gal and the young fella is that they have not yet lost their enthusiasm for living. They still maintain hopes and dreams they believe are achievable. They like what they like and don’t like what they don’t like. They haven’t yet fallen in line nor have been forced to sit when they don’t want to sit. In the end, enthusiasm is a mindset.
The funny thing about life is that you really don’t need to fix it (though Lord knows we try!) It has already been given to us in fantastic shape. Instead it is our job to seek out and destroy those things that steal life. It is our duty to think about what we are thinking about and with that make constant adjustments. We have to actively challenge those things that are not true. You don’t really think everything you think is true, do you? If so, you aint been thinking right. The reason folks don’t recognize those thoughts that grab away small joys and pleasures is because have become accustomed to the darkness. They just accept what reportedly is without question. “Well, it’s going to get you sooner or later.” Or, “Well no one gets out of this thing alive.” What if it doesn’t come and get you now or in the future? What if you could live your life without constant focus on bad possibilities? When the Lord returns, some blessed souls will get out of this thing alive! You see, you cannot let the world and its misery define what is real. You cannot go by what the medical community says or what the intellectuals say. You have to go by what God says. The more you can do that, the more enthusiastic you will become.
This may sound a little insulting to you, but you really can only live in the moment called now. You always only have right now. You don’t yet have any future days no matter how many treasures you have hidden there. And your past days exist only in your mind and the minds of others. Otherwise, they have left existence. Your enthusiasm for life can only live right now. What do you keep waiting for? Love the life you have right now. Get back up, quit drooping and go live your right now life. Visit the kids. Make the trip. Bless your Momma. Hug your wife and do it all right now. You don’t really think gobs of money will fix everything do you? The irony of retirement is that by the time you get there, you’re too damn old to live it right! (smile) Your enthusiasm and mine is truly only one thought away. How can you have the greatest day ever without thinking it and saying it once in awhile? It seems we are all a bunch of people holding back for a million different reasons while it’s only really one reason. You already know what it is.
Don’t ever let yourself get to the place where all of the life is gone from your eyes. Don’t you dare let your life become like that. Oh so you missed some things in your life. Oh you made some wrong choices. Yeah if you would only have done that you would have this in your life now. Whatever happened to you has already happened and it only remains when you keep bringing it up. Your past is gone, gone and your future has not yet arrived. The only moments of your life that you can decide to enjoy are the ones happening right now. Get rid of those things that have been stealing your life from you for years and years and make the best of today, right now! Don’t lose your enthusiasm for living.
Just some good thoughts.