What Living Life To Its Fullest Really Looks Like And Why So Few People Do It

I think we’re all just trying to find our place in the puzzle. Everyone will fit with someone, something, somewhere. At twenty, we will worry about finding our purpose. At thirty, we will find it or lose it or keep it. At forty, fifty, and sixty we will wonder if we’re content and really ask ourselves if we settled.

But that’s just it. No one is or ever really will be fully content. Humans are not built with comfort in mind, and I think that’s okay. That’s the difference between seeking total fulfillment and simply being agreeable. I believe that variation is decided when you become idle in life.

I’ve met many wrinkled and folded by the weight of living in hospitals, nursing homes, and churches. Dormancy had taken hold of them for a better part of their days. This is my biggest fear and yet a common reality. So many people live and barely scratch the surface of their aspirations.

Once, I held the hand of a lonely man in passing. He asserted his blessings: a wife who gave him children, and children who in turn gave him vibrant grandchildren. A home he built and continued to care for until his illness. The survival of a difficult war that he had no hope of returning from.       

He didn’t wish to overshadow all of the good that life had dealt him. He didn’t feel as though he played a poor part in his life. Never did he convey feelings of regret towards the things he did. Rather, he said,

“There’s always going to be something to do. You will always have a to-do list in this life, and that’s not always going to be a bad thing. Right now, it’s school, your job and your friendships. Later, it will be your husband, your job and your children. Stick to your responsibilities, but don’t be afraid to stray beyond that. Focus on all of the living you can do beyond routine.”

Did you say it?

Did you tell the world about everything you want in this life today? How about the person you love? Did you tell them? More importantly, did you ask yourself where you belong in the puzzle of this life? Did you count your blessings, and then seek more?