Deciding to Live

I am exhausted. I haven’t slept in a week and I was going to do it early tonight so I could get some rest... not gonna happen because I want to get this out:

I woke up this morning and decided to live. I was tired, slightly hung-over and already sweating from the humidity. Actually I was woken up by a phone call to go to the beach (thanks Wendy!). I was out late and hung up and said I was going to stay home. After ten seconds, I realized that I had to wake up. I had to go to the beach (yes, again, I love it there!)... I woke up and ran with it… and all day. And sometimes it was slower, others faster, some were stressed moments and others relaxing vacation-style ones.

I am putting this on my blog because it is a reminder. We all wake up hung-over (sometimes). We all wake up irritated at an alarm (sometimes). We even get phone calls to arouse us from slumber. Sometimes an obligation. Sometimes a fun activity to do. Another popular excuse is “for work.”

What if you woke up one day and smiled and shot out of bed because you were so excited to be alive? Because you were excited to go to your job, to do your best, to learn something new, to face mundane frustrations, drive through the daily rat race, enjoy the sunlight on your face as you sipped on a morning java at the local coffee shop because you left yourself a couple more minutes? (Ramble, ramble, ramble)

What if you woke up to wake up? And then work was just another thing to check off of the list along with a morning run and picking up the dry cleaning? An interesting way of looking at it, and a way to separate oneself from energy-draining drama too…

Like I wrote, I woke up this morning and decided to live. To be awake, aware and to react to what was presented to me. I accepted the goods for goods and bads for bads and then let them pass through me as I passed through the world. What if you wake up tomorrow and decide to live? What if everyone decided to live when they woke up?

Happy September. It is nearly the start of the next Jewish year. It is a time to start anew, even for non-Jews. It is a reminder to live. Schools are starting (I begin teaching on Monday!) and students are beginning a new life. It is the time for living, for waking up and for being excited. In fact, every second is like this. Are you living? If not, there is only one thing stopping you.

You have to wake up and decide to live. Are you ready?