I Never Gave Up | 1.29.21
There comes a point in our lives where we’re forced to decide on something, forced to choose. This fork in this road came for Frost, and we know where he went, we know the path he chose and how it made all the difference. It will come for you, as it came for me, and if it hasn’t yet, it will. If it has, there’s a chance another fork may come, another moment of decision that requires bravery and a heart willing to take a risk. One of the defining moments of my life came a few years ago, I was required to decide to continue on the path I was on, or to risk it all and step off, to redirect, to go another way. I never gave up back then, never stopped seeing the light through the dark, never stopped believing that the life I wanted was out there, waiting for me to find it. I chose, defiantly, that joy was worth the fear, that hope was worth the risk.
I will say now, confidently from this side, that I am still not where I know I am going, I know there is a long way left to go, but I know that I am closer than I have ever yet been, I know I am on the right path. There is more work to do, but the life I am living now is already a reward for taking that risk, the joy I feel is worth the fear I felt, the loneliness I endured, the sorrow, the ache.
My question to you on this morning is this: What life do you wish to be living? What are some risks you could take to have it? What’s stopping you?
Never give up, my friends, never, and I promise you the life you’ll be living will be all the reward you’ll ever need.
I never gave up
and the life I am living
has rewarded me.
Haiku on Life by Tyler Knott Gregson
Song of the Day
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A few years ago I finally began focusing on the life I wanted rather than glide through life wishing for the life I wanted. I remember that day so clearly because a lady bug landed on my finger and I took a picture of it. What I didn’t know at the time, one the same day that the lady bug landed on my finger, Matthew was standing on top of a mountain thinking about his life and how he was ready for change. Six months later we would meet and we finally have the life we imaged we would be living. I wanted to give up on finding my life partner and I’m so grateful I didn’t. He’s the lighthouse I didn’t know I needed.
I love the thoughts and Tayler’s Haiku. Thank you!
Since I am an old man now, I have a kind of bird’s eye perspective on my life. I did not grow up with a loving, nurturing home, and during adolescence I learned that you had to be the donor of other’s and your own happiness, that when you are happy you “infect” others with happiness. More importantly, in school I learned that selfishness is the enemy of happiness, that we have to think of us as members of our community. So, whenever that Frostian moment comes, it’s relatively easy for me to make choices. I ask myself what the implication for my choices are. Is what I propose to do good for as many of the people surrounding me as possible? I have said it before in this forum — I’m a happy man! It doesn’t mean I’m always merry, but that my sadness is balanced with my happiness. I try not to regret choices. It doesn’t just happen. I try to act in ways that make sure it does. This Tanka poem tries to distill my thoughts
———
people often ask
why can’t we be happier?
they don’t understand
it’s not a gift from others
you have to give it yourself
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