When you die, you’re dead. Life, at least here, ceases. We are gone and done and over.

The thing is, some people never really start the process of living. They walk and talk and go and do, for sure. They are technically alive. They have families and go through the routine of living.

But something is lacking. Something inside is dead. There’s no flame. No heat. No passion.

They go through the motions but don’t truly enjoy life. They fear the unknown and protect themselves against the possibility of pain. They worry about unlikelihoods and stress over those things we can do nothing about.

It got me thinking that some ways of living are more like dying. What do the dying do, after all? They slow down. They lay down. They ache. They rest. They wait. They don’t move much. And then they stop moving altogether.

Some people live just like that! Their minds don’t move much. They lay their dreams and aspirations on the bed and hide their opportunities in the closet and wait for life to do something. They become passive onlookers to their own lives.

It occurred to me that never truly living is something like a preemptive death.

But preemptive dying is the act of volunteering to experience all that hiding from life was meant to avoid. We don’t have to live that way. We were meant for more. Lots more. All it takes is one small decision to take one small step today, one different from all the preceding days.

All it takes is a choice to get up and shake off the dust and brush away the cobwebs and come alive!

Look around for something to do, a legacy to create, a seed to plant, a world to change. The road to an exciting life of passionate and meaningful activity is really only one step away from where you’re standing this moment.

Take it. You can thank me later.

Photo courtesy of Pixabay