When is it time to wake up?

If you were asked the question “Are you alive?”, you would most likely respond with “Yes," or “Of course." What if the definition of alive was redefined? Urban Dictionary hits a heart string with their definition, “To be alive is to do more than just existing, it is to have a purpose.”

So let me ask again, are you alive?

What does it take until you're shaken awake? How much disappointment or failure does it take to jolt you into an upright position? People go through life only settling and always compromising their wants or dreams because they know no other way of living or life.

Somewhere out there is a life full of purpose and meaning. However, it usually takes a nudge in the right direction to get moving. Often it takes losing something or someone we once loved dearly in order to realize how crucial it is to fully be alive. Once you come to that realization, the options are limitless.

There comes a point in your life when you have to decide how you are going to perceive situations. If you have the ability to control that, then surely you are capable of shaking yourself out of the clouded stupor that blinds your better judgment. Events can unfold in a peculiar manner, often leaving us wondering where to go from there. If everyone were to admit the truth, it would confirm that one of the biggest fears is to wake up and realize you are not fully living the life you had once envisioned.

There once was a woman burdened with addictive desires. This woman looked at herself and realized the time that she was granted was her own; therefore, the choices as to what she did with her time were her own as well. By the time she chose to push past these self-sabotaging addictions, it was too late. Her eyes never opened again to make the profound realization that she only had one life.

That woman was not only an addict, but a mother as well.

That mother would never know the agony and heart-wrenching torture she put her daughter through just to live a life devoted to addiction. However, a very important lesson was brought out of the negativity. That daughter stopped hiding in the shadows of doubt and fear and opened her eyes to see the light and love instead. She didn’t wave a white flag of surrender to her inner goals and passions. Instead, she focused on them and channeled what her mother fought for, but never once received. She decided to live.

You are only a victim of your life if you let your self be one. There are too many opportunities in this world to pass up by settling for second best and not fulfilling what you truly want. Love yourself a little more, and grant yourself the gift of truly living to the fullest extent. Expand and capitalize on the success that you envision for yourself. Follow that passion through, and nurture it, because it is a gift that others have died looking for.

Love yourself enough to say that you are doing more than just existing, you are fulfilling your self-driven purpose.