Living With Purpose and Passion

There's no magic pill to make us immortal, sad but true. I think I have finally grasped what "the rest of your life" really means. I've heard the phrase time and time again, but it never really registered until recently. I can't really describe to you how I feel, now that the reality of the phrase has sunk in. I will tell you, when you reach this realization you have a keen awareness of what is truly important in life, and what is not.

I realize that aging is a process over which we have no control, but we can control how we spend the rest of our lives. So many of us are guilty of just turning the TV up a little louder and sinking down in the La-Z-Boy and making a somewhat nonconscious decision to just ride this out. It's as if we have drained our levels of energy and lost our enthusiasm.

Are you lying dormant, collecting dust? Do what you were created to do with the time you have here. Live each and every day with purpose and passion. Sometimes I think people live in fear about the rest of their lives, almost counting down the days. Don't live in fear of the future. When we do that, we rob ourselves of being a vital contributor to the present. We didn't have a thing to do with when we arrived on this Earth, and we aren't going to have a thing to say about the day we exit it, but you certainly can have an impact between the two.

We've come a long way in this journey, and we can definitely leave the heavy lifting to someone else, but let's continue to persevere. Yes, we all have highs and lows in our lives, but we have so much to share and give. There has never been a better time to be over fifty - maybe because I just arrived there - but to me, it means a time to be fabulous, be passionate, be seen, be heard and most of all, be available!

T.S. Elliot said, "It's never too late to be what you might have been." No, there is no pill to make us immortal, but we were made for something far greater than watching cable news in the La-Z-Boy and collecting shells on the beach. Gandalf the Grey said in Lord of the Rings,

We have significant work ahead of us; use your time in a meaningful manner as opposed to a menial manner. I bet you will find a strength and a courage that you had given up on long ago. Therefore, don't ever think you can't make a difference because even with all the broken dreams, hurts, heartaches, shams, drudgeries and pains, it's still a beautiful world we live in, and the only way you can really fail is to quit!

Don't forget to  follow me on Twitter @LeighAnneTuohy and play #TuohyTrivia on Tuesdays for a chance to win a $25 donation to the charity of your choice for answering the question correctly. Learn more about my family's charity at The Making It Happen Foundation.

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Photo credit: Kerekes János Csongor