The photo above was actually one of a series of billboards, but I like it in seclusion…… To Life….. something so many of us take for granted………. something that can be painful in one moment and abundantly joyful in the next….. something confusing, gratifying, infuriating and accomplished – sometimes all in the space of one day.
I see so many people today who seem to not understand what a gift life is. Somehow they have lost touch with the precious reality of how temporary our existence is on this planet. Unfortunately, for these young people, often the only thing to help them understand the value of life is when they lose a friend or other loved one…. only then do they start to comprehend that this life we take for granted is really nothing to take for granted.
So many people are quoted as saying that life is too short to waste time or energy, or in the words of Darwin “A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.” yet, we still tend to throw away the time we have. William Wallace said, “Every man dies. Not every man really lives.” How many of us are really living our lives? How many of us have an understanding of the delicacies of life? How many of us life each day as though it truly is our last? How many of us live each day with little to no regrets? This is my ultimate goal.
Today, 299 days ’til 40, I will remind myself of the value of my own life and the lives of those around me. I will strive to life each day to the fullest and encourage those around me to do the same. As we step out and boldly live our lives, we inspire those around us to do the same.
~400daystil40
Fortuitous Forty!!! 
Danailya
April 28, 2012 at 00:02
this is so true.
400daystil40
April 28, 2012 at 20:58
Thanks.
pinkagendist
April 28, 2012 at 00:15
I once “really lived my life”, but it was terribly exhausting… 😀
400daystil40
April 28, 2012 at 20:58
Thank you for making me smile with this comment! Yes, I can relate – sometimes when we chase our dreams or live our life we end up lying flat on the floor from exhaustion and burn out! 🙂
viveka
April 28, 2012 at 00:19
“Every man dies. Not every man really lives.” – great quote – but what doesn’t mean that all of us are not really living ???? How are we suppose to live to be living ????!! I suppose is not enough to breathe *smile Have a great weekend.
400daystil40
April 28, 2012 at 20:57
Such a good question…. yes, what DOES it mean to really live? I suppose the answer will probably be a bit different for everyone.
narf77
April 28, 2012 at 00:22
I don’t think its just the young that think that they are immortal. I see many 40+ skateboarding men and plastic women denying the aging process. Life seems to be about denying death these days, rather than living each and every moment that we have been given whether it hurts or not and knowing that failure is the ONLY way that we learn anything. Society has been manipulated severely by media and big business and what we now see as desirable is what generates the most profit. Failure generates constant need and so we are pushed to be thinner … sexier… younger… richer and we are setting ourselves up to fail from the start and we don’t even notice that these ideals are not natural but manipulated. When my mother died earlier this year I think that was when lifes precious qualities really became apparent to me. There is nothing like a parent dying to make you consider your own mortality. I had a discussion with my husband the other day about why he was in such a hurry. We all seem to be racing somewhere these days…cramming our days as full as we can…earning as much as we can…texting, facebooking, twittering…spending every waking moment cramming it full but feeling strangely unfulfilled. I wonder where we are all running to in such a great hurry? It would seem to me that we are all in a race to the finish line and the finish line is death. Life is the process of getting there and if we cram it full of useless and unfulfilling bampf, we are totally missing the point of it in the first place. We need to take ourselves back from this endless comsumeristic race and relearn what life is really about. We need to slow down and become aware of who we actually are and where we fit into things before we can ever attain any kind of happiness. Cheers for another great post 🙂
400daystil40
April 28, 2012 at 20:57
Such a good point, yes I have also seen some older individuals taking risks that are not ones I would consider worth taking. I must say, I do not want to deny my aging process, I want to embrace it and live life to the fullest – no face lifts for me! I earned EVERY wrinkle! Yes, you are so correct that losing a parent gives us a different perspective (my father died about a year and a half ago and I felt very similar feelings). I love your thoughts about slowing down and really learning and focusing on that which is truly important. 🙂
jensine
April 28, 2012 at 00:34
And now an award just for you and a few others 🙂 http://jensinewall.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/i-am-bidextrous/
400daystil40
April 28, 2012 at 20:55
Thank you so very much! How thoughtful of you!
Louise Behiel
April 28, 2012 at 01:35
I’m hearing what you say. it seems with every passing year, i am so aware of that passage of time. i turn 62 on Thursday of next week. more sand in the bottom of that hourglass than the top.
400daystil40
April 28, 2012 at 20:54
It is amazing how quickly life does pass us by…. I hope that you live every day to the fullest and find joy and peace, in the smaller moments and the larger ones.
Louise Behiel
April 28, 2012 at 21:20
thx so much.
Fay Moore
April 28, 2012 at 03:10
You achieved your goal for today. You inspired the topic of my May 2 post — Never Pass Up an Opportunity to Love.
400daystil40
April 28, 2012 at 20:54
Thank you so much! Please post a link to your blog post here when it goes live so that the readers here can read it too! 🙂
rabidmongoose
April 28, 2012 at 05:37
Perfect timing! I’m starting my ‘fear’ series tomorrow…you should participate! Check my newest post for details.
400daystil40
April 28, 2012 at 20:50
I look forward to reading your fear series! 🙂
anotherthousandwords
April 28, 2012 at 16:44
A wonderful post, verifying the old adage: “Make hay while the Sun shines!”
400daystil40
April 28, 2012 at 20:50
Yes, thank you for reminding us of the adage!!! 🙂
charlesmashburn
April 28, 2012 at 17:03
Wonderful post! You are so right on with this! Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us!
http://charleslmashburn.wordpress.com/2012/04/26/a-jealous-crowning/
400daystil40
April 28, 2012 at 20:49
Thank you so much for the compliment!
contoveros
April 28, 2012 at 20:41
I remember turning 30 when someone gave me a card stating that I was now “over the hill.” I had finally become one of those my generation had warned against, in saying “don’t trust anyone over 30.”
But it was the 40-year mark that I stuggled with several years before reaching it, wondering if I had enough in me to switch careers at such a time in my life.
I did. Now, I recommend everyone change something about their everyday surroundings at that age in order to see so many new and wonderful things our older, more comfortable life often keeps us from viewing.
michael j contos,
Conshohocken, PA USA
contoveros
April 28, 2012 at 20:43
“struggled,” not stuggled.
400daystil40
April 28, 2012 at 20:46
Yes, that sounds like th enlace I am in…… I am in that search and trying to figure out what I may want to change….. be it my career, a new hobby, etc….. slowly I hope to figure it all out – and some of the journey involves knocking on new doors and seeing if they will open.
Sarah Marie
April 28, 2012 at 21:08
Thank you for liking the sneak peak of my novel! I actually had a great conversation about living to the fullest the other day with my friend, Dave. We talked about how the tendency to live sedated lives now: go to work, come home, eat dinner, watch tv, do it all over again. And this is the idea we instill in our children; this is the representation of life we show them. Life isn’t about the job…it is about taking the risks. Recognizing opportunities and grabbing at them.
400daystil40
April 28, 2012 at 21:30
You are welcome!!! Yes, you are so right….. I often think about the example I am setting for my children when I do not fully live my life.
The Beachwalker
April 29, 2012 at 00:09
It use to be all so simple; Life was hard and then you died. All things eventually come full circle and now I find my own self serving platitudes to be calling me out. I indeed have had the blessing in my life that the road less traveled has not only afforded me as the backdrop of my past and a true gift and blessing, but alas because of this, I feel an obligation to pass it on. I often believed that if I could reach one soul and change it’s path through my words then maybe I earned the right to the air that I breath and the space I consume. I have always expected that my writing and my thoughts, belief’s and low road rhetoric would just eventually pass on to the obscurity, that I myself may eventually elicit from the footprints of my life. I thank you humbly for not only finding and reading me, but also for what I consider to be a generous compliment.
BeachWalker
400daystil40
April 29, 2012 at 23:46
Thank you so much, I look forward to reading more from you….
The Quiet Borderline
April 29, 2012 at 15:58
It’s so true how we take life for granted. I am really working on making every moment count.
Thanks for the great post, as always.
400daystil40
April 29, 2012 at 23:34
ME too and thank you!
Lisa Pace Wegrzyn
April 29, 2012 at 18:33
Very well said – thank you, sometimes we need to be reminded.
400daystil40
April 29, 2012 at 23:32
You are welcome.
Paws To Talk
April 30, 2012 at 02:21
Excellent post and advice. Thanks for reminding us how good life is 🙂
Bella and DiDi
400daystil40
April 30, 2012 at 15:59
And thank you! Perhaps you can come play with our cats??? 😉
Paws To Talk
April 30, 2012 at 18:07
Just as long as they don’t scratch our noses we are game 🙂
Spider42
May 7, 2012 at 10:35
Excellent post – one of those topics truly dear to me so I loved it.
I’ve said before and I say again, life’s too short and we waste too much time in it.
And your point about life being good and bad, that I think it the beauty of it – the fact that there are horrors, that’s on us as a species for allowing it, but good and bad in a mix is life at its very core in my view.
On this point, I’d like to share one of my own favourite quotes that I think makes this point beautifully:
“Just remember, the sweet is never as sweet without the sour, and I know the sour.”
– Brian Shelby (Jason Lee)
400daystil40
May 7, 2012 at 22:40
Thanks so much! I love your comment and the quote you included!