By Kristi Ling A couple of weeks ago, my younger brother spent ten days in the hospital in the ICU after suffering a carotid artery dissection in a ski fall. It was a dangerous injury that required a very risky surgery to fix. Our family gathered in the waiting room, anxious and faced with the possibility that he could suffer a major stroke, or worse, we could lose him. I stayed optimistic, knowing he was in great hands. We started telling funny stories in an effort to lighten up the energy in the room. We needed all the positive thinking we could rally. My mom told a great story about him that shifted the way I thought about the situation, and about how I’ve been living my days. She shared that when he was around 11 years old, she bought him some nice jeans for school, figuring he was growing out of the stage of ruining clothes that most kids go through in elementary school. When he came home the very next day, his new jeans covered in grass stains, she felt frustrated. She asked him why he had grass stains all over his pants, and he replied, “Mom, if I don’t come home with grass stains, it means it wasn’t a good day!” We laughed, there in the hospital waiting room, and at the same time I realized that’s the way he’s always lived. Full out, trying new things, taking risks, and doing what he wants when he wants. I’ve always admired this about him. I thought to myself, if, by small chance, we lose him, I can take some comfort in the fact that he was lucky enough from such an early age to really understand what life is about… And to really live it. Many people go through their entire lives with very few grass stains. A great example is the lifestyle he lives today. A few years ago he and his wife put everything into storage, took a hiatus from work, and went to live for a few months on the beach on the Central Coast of California. They’d always dreamed of living in the wine country, so instead of just dreaming about it, they decided to made it happen. They took time during their stay on the beach to look for a house to buy overlooking orchards and vineyards, and they live there now, with kids, animals, good wine, and amazing afternoon breezes. The story about the grass stains got me thinking. Have I been living that way? Could I be more that way? Giving each day everything I’ve got? It’s about the cycle of going confidently after what you want, and then getting back up after you get knocked down and running after it again full force. It’s a simple idea – that, at the end of each day, we should have physical reminders that we gave it our all, even if it’s just crashing into bed and sleeping like a rock, tired from all the energy we put toward living our dreams. My brother made it through the surgery and is on the road to recovery at home with his family in the wine country. I’m so grateful for this. I’m also grateful for the renewed perspective that every day – every second – is so monumentally important (Tweet-worthy!), and that if we’re going to truly live the life we dream of, we need to remember this: There is no time to sit idly by letting way too many days end without having done all we can to create or experience something amazing. How can you raise the bar? Take new action? Shift your energy to go after every day with ridiculous enthusiasm? What dream is waiting for you on a shelf that you need to take down, dust off, and go running through the fields with? In the words of the band Train, “Well, it’s not just a daydream if you decide to make it your life.” Go after the grass stains. thedailylove/are-you-living-as-hard-as-you-can/
Posted on: Fri, 11 Apr 2014 19:00:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015