Whenever I wake up to the sight of slivers of sunlight that shine into my room, I can’t help but be thankful that I have yet another chance at life. I’ve been alive for almost 30 years now and it was around 4 years back when I somehow got to get a grasp of the saying that “being alive is one thing, living life is another.” Living is definitely a challenge, even without philosophers and scientists trying to figure out its meaning. It ranges from the occasional “What do I wear to work today?” to something more problematic like “I’m still having trouble getting over my ex-boyfriend” to something even worse that I'm not pretty sure is yet to come for me – probably a case of having worst nightmares or an eventual follow up of the dream into a reality(praying it doesn't come at all). I can’t say I have it figured out., I doubt anyone has and ever will, but I think it’s safe for me to at least say what I think it’s about:
Living is about exploring. I can immediately come up with two famous lines. “Life is a highway.” I think it’s the simplest and perfect metaphor ever created and it spawned many other familiar lines that are connected to it. That said, I guess living would be journeying through that highway. Of course there would be bumps and detours along the way. “It’s not so much about the destination but the journey.” True enough it’s the journey that changes us and we only see the full impact when we reach our goal.
Living is about making choices. If life is a highway, then there’s bound to be forks in the road and the choices we make at these forks change us. We can choose to forever stay in our comfort zone and walk the path we know to be safe or we can take a risk and walk the path unknown. The saying goes that a person is the sum of the choices he makes.
Living is about learning. Living is an experience. We live inside life and not outside it. We become immersed in it and try to learn the ropes of everything we encounter: cooking, driving, programming, etc. We learn through experiencing things firsthand, not with other people doing things for us. Through mistakes we learn what and what not to do. Learning helps us make better choices.
Living is about struggling. Life is full of contradictions in the abstract and problems in the concrete. It is never always easy. We encounter money problems or relationship problems. We struggle with the moral dilemma of our choices and the consequences that follow. These are the things that take part in molding us into better people.
Living is about loving. Who of us do not know about love? Living life is about experiencing it with other people. Family and friends shower us with love and we return it in kind. Love is essential to living. It is the warmth in our homes and a drink in our merrymaking. A life lived without love is not living at all.
Living is about being thankful. Living is about counting our blessings and not our misfortunes, what we have and not what we don’t. It is about being thankful for the chance to embrace life in its entirety, the good and bad together.
How is living different from being alive then? Living is being thankful of being alive.
