When I was young, I used to think life was long. I used to think I could play around and be a child forever and still have my mom, my relatives and my friends beside me. But all those childish thoughts disappeared as I aged. I began to learn that life actually is short. Since then, I've been so afraid of dying. It's not that I want to be mortal or anything.. it's just that I don't want to go unprepared. I want to enjoy life, spend decades with the people I love and live life to the fullest.
But demise has been trolling me around these past few years. Many of my friends have lost their loved ones, some lost their dads... and I feel sad as I listened to their stories. A friend of mine had a friend who died in a bus bombing last year-she was on TV and trending on Twitter. A cousin of mine lost her father last year, too. All those stories burden me and make me feel so worried.
Yesterday, I was in a public utility vehicle on the way to the office with my office mate. We were sitting in front of the Van and we were trying to beat the time as we were running late for work. There was a white SUV beside us...until in one snap BOOM! A blue car out of nowhere bumped the white SUV! The blue car's passenger door was smashed and the white SUV's bumper was totally in a wreck! I was shocked! How could something like that happen so fast??! Good thing no one was hurt and only the cars were damaged. What if the driver was hurt? What if it was our van (instead of the white SUV) that got hit by the blue car?? :(
And today, I got a sad text message from a cousin. She told me that our auntie passed away. I was shuddered. We weren't really close. She was actually my dad's cousin's wife, which is actually a distant relative. But she was really nice to me. She lived in the province which is 3 hours drive from where I live. And each time I visit my grandparents, she never failed to give me a sweet smile and sincere greetings and asked how I was and she never forgot to ask about my mom, which I thought was really sweet. It's sad to loose a special person...
That's why each time I have a little private time with God, I always ask him to give me long life and give my mom even longer. When I was younger, our life was difficult and my mom and I only get to enjoy now. I want us to be able to spend more time together.Oh, this post is really getting too draggy and heavy.. Sorry..
So anyway, let's try to be a little positive! Instead of worrying about this and counting the days of our lives because we are too worried that life is really short, why don't we all focus on enjoying while we are still here?
Today, I want to make a list on how we can live life to the fullest.
1. Seize the day.
-It's a major cliche and this phrase has been used so many times but I'm going to use it anyway, "Live each day as if it's your last". Some people sleep over their problems, some take things and people for granted, while some delays the things they want to do or they want to say and save it for tomorrow. But, what if there's no more tomorrow?
So, what you want to do, do it now! You want to say I love you to the person? Say it now! You want to apologize for the wrong things you've done? Voice that out! Remember, we always regret the things we DID NOT DO rather than the things we did.
2. Enjoy life.
-Some people dream of success while others wake up and work hard at it. Some take this too seriously, and all they do is just dream and when I say dream I mean dream while sleeping. Do you want to know why I'm super short? It's because I hate sleeping! My notion is that sleep hinders me from enjoying life and doing the things I could enjoy. I stay up late at night doing stuff while some people are already snoring. But that's just a funny story to make things lighter. Get up from that bed! Get off the iPad! Get out of the house! The world is beautiful for crying out loud! Go take a walk and smile at people. Travel with your friends. Spend quality time with your family. Life is too beautiful to be just wasted.
3. Show your love and be appreciative
-No better way to waste a lifetime than to be unappreciative about life. Life is too difficult! I'm so much in pain. I'm so poor. I'm so ugly. I'm not rich enough. I'm not powerful enough. People spend so much time focusing on the things we don't have so we end up taking the things we already have for granted. And sometimes we also neglect people in our lives. I remember my mom was so sad when we lost our grandfather. She told me she would always run away from my grandfather when he was still alive and she'd hide from him. When my grandpa was still alive, he'd stand by the door of our old-and-shabby house looking outside. That's how he was when he was still alive. that's how I saw him. His children left his house and went on their own ways...I guess he was waiting for them to come home.... Now I miss my grandfather. I was in high school when he left and at that time I still wasn't very emotional. I was young but I really loved him. I wish I could have shown him more love and appreciation. He also wrote a book, which he wished to be published, but still is unpublished up to now. I remember he would read the book to me and to the rest of the family out loud, I guess he was trying to seek appreciation from us. So while the people we love are still here, let's show them love and appreciation, shall we?
4. Laugh and be carefree
-Sometimes we worry about life too much. We give ourselves too much stress because we think about the future and the things that might happen then. More often than not, the things we worry about are the negative things, and guess what? Those things never really happen! So give yourself a little favor. Laugh more and be carefree. Who cares if tomorrow's going to be worse than today? At least live this day to the max and let tomorrow worry about it's own sake.
5. Find your purpose in life
-First and foremost, why are we even here on earth? Are we just here to hoard clothes and expensive gadgets? Are we here to be gluttonous and munch all the food in the world? Or to just wake up in the morning, go to work, chit-chat a little (or maybe much for some) and go back home and sleep? I can't speak about this too much as I myself am still in search of my real purpose in life. But I guess while we are still searching, we can enjoy life while being productive at the same time. Go to sensible activities than to late night parties. Read self help books than spend so many hours in front of the TV. There's a greater purpose to life and I hope people can find where they were truly made for.
6. Stop counting the days-This for me is the most important. I often hear people say "Oh, Im so tired and exhausted, I wish it's Friday already!" even when it's only Monday! This is one thing that I seriously never do. If you keep on wishing to fast-forward your life, then you'll never get to enjoy it. Remember in every travel you take, it's not always about getting there, but it's also about enjoying the journey. Don't sleep on trips! Go and sit by the window and breathe the fresh air. Take many pictures! Laugh with the people you are with... Same goes with life. Never fast-forward everything. Before you know it, life will almost be over and what did you do? You just fast-forwarded it. Stop for a while and appreciate the present.
7. Build strong relationship with God
-If you are to go, could you safely say that you are truly ready to go? You've lived your life abundantly here on earth but what's next? Your existence doesn't end here. It is also important to build strong relationship with God, our creator. Sometimes I ask why there are people who live their lives on the bad side. Aren't they scared of where they'd go after this life? I guess not. But I am! Aren't you? Pray. Connect with God more than you connect with your Facebook friends. Follow God more than you follow celebs on Twitter. Read His words more than you read blogs and magazines. At the end of the day, its not the glamor of life that dictates where we will go, it will all be HIM.
8. Make a bucket list
-This is not the most important but I thought it would be more fun to put it last as I want to share with you my own bucket list. What's a bucket list? A "Bucket List" is a list of things to do before you die. It comes from the term "kicked the bucket".
Before I write my own, I would like to share two lists I found.
A serious bucket list and a funny bucket list.
So, here comes my bucket list (incomplete though)
* * *
I'm sorry guys. While I was writing this entry, my emotions were everywhere and I couldn't figure out if this should be sad and emotional, or happy and inspirational. I guess I kind of mixed all those together. I hope you weren't too bored reading the long article. When I was 18 years old, I made a promise to myself to start living my life to the fullest and think of each day as if it was the last. I don't know if I succeeded but I have been trying to do so since then. I hope you get inspired to do the same, too.
7. Build strong relationship with God-If you are to go, could you safely say that you are truly ready to go? You've lived your life abundantly here on earth but what's next? Your existence doesn't end here. It is also important to build strong relationship with God, our creator. Sometimes I ask why there are people who live their lives on the bad side. Aren't they scared of where they'd go after this life? I guess not. But I am! Aren't you? Pray. Connect with God more than you connect with your Facebook friends. Follow God more than you follow celebs on Twitter. Read His words more than you read blogs and magazines. At the end of the day, its not the glamor of life that dictates where we will go, it will all be HIM.
8. Make a bucket list
-This is not the most important but I thought it would be more fun to put it last as I want to share with you my own bucket list. What's a bucket list? A "Bucket List" is a list of things to do before you die. It comes from the term "kicked the bucket".
Before I write my own, I would like to share two lists I found.
A serious bucket list and a funny bucket list.
So, here comes my bucket list (incomplete though)
- Buy a house and car with money I've earned on my own.
- Tour Korea.
- Watch SHINee concert with a VVVVVIP Ticket. Of course that includes meet & greet!
- Ride the MRT Train from North to Taft, get off at each station and ride it again. I want to do this with my future husband.
- Be featured on a prestigious magazine.
- Be featured on a popular TV show.
- Film a YouTube video together with Ryan Higa.
- Run around the streets of Paris with my mom.
- See my children have children of their own.
- Look at photo albums with my grand children and when they ask about my great love, I'd say "He's right there, Honey, your grandfather sitting on the couch." :)
* * *
I'm sorry guys. While I was writing this entry, my emotions were everywhere and I couldn't figure out if this should be sad and emotional, or happy and inspirational. I guess I kind of mixed all those together. I hope you weren't too bored reading the long article. When I was 18 years old, I made a promise to myself to start living my life to the fullest and think of each day as if it was the last. I don't know if I succeeded but I have been trying to do so since then. I hope you get inspired to do the same, too.
♥
Kristine