Last week for my article I asked 12 people the question, “What makes you feel alive?” and the responses I got were all so different. Seeing how each person interpreted and responded to the question really spoke to their personality. For this week’s article, I decided to unpack the question myself, so here it is: what makes me feel alive.

The first thing that comes to mind is that reading and writing makes me feel alive. When I was little I used to stay up past bedtime reading books by my night light and writing and illustrating my own short stories. Little did I know that I’d end up double majoring in Graphic Design and Journalism. I knew what I was passionate about when I was young and I finally decided to pursue it at nineteen years old. It made me feel alive then and it still makes me feel alive now. As cliche as it sounds, reading transports you to a different world and allows you to imagine a writer’s words coming to life. I love being able to imagine a character for myself which is why I always love books more than I do movies. On the contrary, writing allows you to create your own world and dictate your own future. It allows you to write your own happy endings. Most of all, writing allows me to feel even when I don’t want to.

Exploring nature makes me feel alive, but not just because it’s beautiful. Seeing the world and how stunning creation is reminds me that the God who created all this created me too. It reminds me that like the world, I am a good work and I was made for a purpose. Despite how messy life might feel, ultimately something beautiful is being created.

What makes me feel the most alive is love: love from God, love from others and loving people. I wholeheartedly believe that love is the reason we’re here on this earth. 1 Corinthians 16:14 says, “Let all that you do be done in love;" I’m here to walk in love. There’s no limit as to how much love you can give or how many people you can love. I’m learning to love people when it’s easy and when it’s hard. I’m striving to be the one who never looks past others but walks with them and encourages them. In 1 Corinthians 13:13 Paul writes, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” Love is the basis of everything. Hope and faith depend on love to exist. Without love, hope is not genuine. Without love, faith is empty. That’s why love makes me feel so alive.