Get up early when the sun rises and greet the day with a gentle hello and thank you. Sing in the rain and splash in the puddles like when you were a child. Read that book you have always wanted to read. Go for a walk with your friend instead of fixing dinner, their tummies can wait just a little bit longer. Color outside the lines and doodle when you should be listening. Take a day off and do what makes you smile. Cry for a lost loved one instead of putting on that brave face, when tears are what’s really needed in this silent moment. Eat that double scoop of ice cream with hot fudge, the one that you said no to last week “I am watching my calories” your standard and empty response. Read a book to your cat or dog, who is to say they do not like to hear your stories as well? Take that trip to Europe, now is as good a time as any, right? Say yes to coffee with a friend, even though you always say no “there is not enough time” your empty and hollow words that ring true. Buy those flowers because they make you smile. Make the call to a loved one, the distance between you fades away to nothing. Do that thing that scares you the most, there is never a better time than now. Stay up late playing Monopoly with a child, even though school comes early for us all. Say hello to the stranger that just moved in, if not you then who else will welcome them in? Write that poem and publish that book you put off all these years. Go to the movies on a rainy day, get that Coke and the messy, gooey extra buttered popcorn. Get that new job, the one that makes you happy, even though the pay is less than what is needed or expected. Sing along with your favorite song, even though your voice is slightly off key. Say yes to life instead of bowing your head in shame and regret. Take the car for a drive, have a look around the corner, see what is down that lonely dirt road. Silence the critics, live your truth the way you see fit. Go for seconds and have another piece of pie. Live your life in the mystery, the way you have always wanted to be. Create that art or play a song on your guitar. Take that step into the unknown, the beautiful place inside the ordinary. Begin again, this time with new eyes to see. Laugh out loud and speak your mind when it is needed. Why not live again, this time more open and free? Why not now, or never it will be.
Thanks for the little reminders.
I like its hunger for life, the way it keeps daring the reader to reach out and touch joy. But it could breathe more if it cut some of the repetition—the endless “why nots” weigh it down when the fire is already there.