A couple months ago, a friend who meant a lot to me (and who I looked up to a great deal) died. In the aftermath of his death, I had an interesting (and somewhat existential) conversation with another friend and came to the realization that when we die, we are defined by the people who knew us and the things we did. This, of course, led to an entire afternoon reflecting on “if I were to die tomorrow” scenarios and vows to “live each day like it were the last.”
Naturally, I instead continued to live each day like the one before it.
I’d reflect on the concept now and then, wondering if I was “living it right”- and then promptly get caught up in something else and decide to start my new life tomorrow. And as many college students (and people in general) will testify, when it comes to procrastinating, tomorrow never comes.
So this time, when inspiration struck again- I decided to truly seize the day. I went to the library and checked out almost every “x number of things to do/see/eat/drink/visit before you die” -type book I could get my hands on, and used them to construct a list of my own. Its still growing, and it ranges from things I’ve always wanted to try (surfing), exotic locations I want to visit (the Maldives), fears I want to conquer (snakes), things I want to revisit from my childhood (petting zoos), and a number of other miscellaneous goals, destinations, and activities. And I’m going to write about them here as I tick them off my list.
Now, I have a confession: I suck at journaling. I start off all gung-ho, but sooner or later my commitment wanes. This time, however, I am doing everything to hold myself to this- this is my modern message in a bottle.
So hi. I am 21 years old, born and raised in California, currently attending college in Massachusetts. I love sunflowers, hate cucumbers, and am still deciding my true feelings towards LOLcats. And today, I’m going to start living my life.*
From California, with love.
*Look, it sounds climactic in my head, okay?
