Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Surviving

All day I have really been thinking about an update I saw from my friend from Teen Mother Choices who is going through chemotherapy at this stage of fighting cancer. She described her summer in three words:

EAT (whatever you want)
SLEEP (whenever you can)
PRAY (every chance you get)

She likened this to the best seller with a similar title.

"...this journey is the survivors guide to life, not finding one's "authentic self"."

And what I have been thinking about is that it is a luxury to be able to discover yourself, to live life day to day, to enjoy the little things, even to be depressed for lesser reasons. And how many people in the world are just surviving... physically, and otherwise.

I have also been thinking a lot about things I'd really love to do in the second half of my life. Included in that is to learn more about the environment, health and nutrition, non-toxic household cleaners and become more globally aware. I suppose those things are more important than the rest of my list which includes learning (again) to play the guitar, sing better, learn to speak Spanish and surf.

But I guess my point is that with the luxury I have, I really feel a desire to help those really in need, at least be more informed about the people who are just surviving, how to improve our health so we are not just surviving, how to be kinder to the environment so all can thrive.

And a lighter post will come tomorrow.

3 ripples:

Junie Moon said...

Lovely and thoughtful post. There is indeed so much pain and suffering going on out in the world; the sheer magnitude often takes my breath away. I try to be mindful of all this and count my own blessings as well as discovering ways I may help.

Anonymous said...

Ok - I'm totally cracking up because I turned 40 last Nov. and my list of things to learn/do in this second half of my life also include learning/relearning French, guitar or piano, and learning to surf! Too funny! In this past year I have explored knitting, increased my knowledge of cooking, and taken up jogging. I truly believe being 40 is more fun than all the ages before.

Anonymous said...

Oh and I have become more environmentally conscious too. I sewed myself a cool fabric totebag to use when shopping along with the ones I've purchased. Also have started recycling everything that our local recycling center takes. AND I started my blog - so it isn't very exciting yet since its relatively newish. Your post just really hit home with all of the things I've been doing since my big 4-0.

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