There has been many devastating news of late, from the bombing near a children’s playground in Lahore, the gruesome decapitation of a toddler in Taiwan to the passing of little Caitie who was battling an extremely rare form of leukemia. As a parent myself, my heart grew heavy after reading the news and I cannot imagine how the affected families themselves are coping with such a tragedy. As cliché as the saying goes, life is indeed unpredictable and fragile; we never really know when it is going to be our last day on earth. That is why I believe that we all should strive to make the most of it.
This is open to individual interpretation and some people have it all figured out already. When we talk about living the life, my mind tends to drift to travelling the world, going onto one adventure after another without a care. I remember once reading about a young fellow who travelled the world while working on cruise ships to fund his travelling. It must have been such an eye-opening and priceless experience.
While to others, living your life to the fullest means fulfilling everything on your bucket list. That probably includes the countries you want to tour, experiences you hope to try out and goals you intend to accomplish before leaving this world.
To me, living life to the fullest for now would be to live in the moment and just simply embrace the present. To simply not take it for granted. I used to be a worrywart who always had a penchant for thinking up of the worst-case scenario in any situation. I was the person who probably had what I would think of as a bout of bad luck only to later on realize that it was most probably all just self-fulfilling prophesy. I had wasted so much time thinking about the worse that could happen and ended up not appreciating the present moments at all. Thankfully, I have since tried to alter my perception and I no longer focus on the negative but try to see the positive in every situation. If there is something that bothers me, I try to change it. And should it prove itself beyond my control, I then let it go. Life is simply too short to get upset over every single little problem.
I really enjoy the time I get to spend with my family, especially my only child. I make it a point to hug him everyday and remind him of how much I love him. Because I know that he will only remain this little for now and someday, he would no longer need me. Sometimes we get so caught up in life that we tend to overlook the little details. Like how your child smiles at you when you pick him up from school, or were you too distracted the Facebook updates on your phone to notice it as you hurry him to the car. Or the time your child turned to you for approval after building a tower of blocks he was so proud of only to see you frowning and hunched over your laptop.
Therefore, living life to the fullest for me involves getting my priorities right and focusing on them. This way, I know I can leave without any regrets.