I will be honest in saying that I am writing this with a specific person in mind, but I am hoping that it opens the ears of many people that are content in staying in their comfort bubble.
Do not misunderstand me. Everyone has a comfort zone, and that is perfectly okay. Everyone has their limits, sometimes social anxiety, and even awkwardness can make it difficult for certain individuals. But do you know how those individuals learned that fact? By trying.
Too many of us have become engrossed in surviving but not living. There is a difference between the two. Don't believe me? Well, Merriam-Webster dictionary defines surviving as, "to remain alive or in existence." The dictionary also defines living as "full of life or vigor." See the difference now?
If not, let me point it out for you. I will point out one key word in each definition: Remain and full. To survive means to remain as you are. This means going from day to day doing what is comfortable and only what is comfortable. To live means that your life is full. Full of anything and everything that you want it to be.
There are those that would say this affliction is limited to millennials, but I disagree. It applies to anyone that lets it happen. When did finding a career you love turn into the biggest ball of stress yarn you have ever seen? When did making a substantial paycheck begin to take priority over living a happy life?
Let us use the generic plot line of any (and I mean any) movie on the Hallmark Channel. Full disclosure, I love those movies, but that is completely irrelevant here. Each movie follows the path of one or two of the integral characters learning that they have existed their entire lives, but not necessarily lived them. They were too engrossed in their career or finding true love that they let themselves simply do what they had to do to move forward in the day to day.
I have seen the change that living life can do to someone who was merely surviving. I am sure we have all experienced something like this in one way or another. This is a hard thing for me to talk about, because it involved my baby (I mean 18 year old) brother, but I have no other way to illustrate my point in a manner to make the thick headed ones understand.
He was about 15 or 16 at the time and we were in North Carolina for our cousin's wedding. I will spare going into major detail for myself and anyone else that experienced it, but he had a vasovagal reaction. In his case, it was caused by getting into the hot tub too soon after being in the ocean.
If you do not know what that means, the bottom line is that he passed out. Everyone thought that sitting him up was a good idea, but it made things worse. For an eternity of a two minutes my father could not find a pulse anywhere on his body.
Luckily, my uncle was still on the phone. 911 told him to immediately roll him into the recovery position, as it would take the pressure off of his heart. Because of that 911 operator, my brother survived.
Now, as awful as it was for me to watch, and trust me, that memory will never fade, it was more dreadful for him to experience. It changed him and made him appreciate the life he had in front of him.
He never passes up an opportunity. In the past, we would get typical teenager responses from him. Since then, it has been a complete turnaround. Granted it stemmed from a negative experience, but my brother has grasped a concept that eludes most adults.
You need to live your life and take every opportunity before you. Fear can be debilitating. But what is worse: taking a chance even though you are afraid, or looking back with regret realizing you had let your life pass you by?
