Living

Life is more than just being alive.
It’s more than just waking up, going to work, eating, coming home, and going to bed.
It’s learning to love, learning to fall, learning to thrive.

There’s more to life than the same old everyday routine.
If you find yourself dragging yourself out of bed, and walking through your day as if you’re on auto-drive,
That’s not living.
It’s not even close.

That’s more like living the life of a ghost.
Someone who is floating lifelessly, unsure of their destination,
Not knowing when their next break or chance to get away is.

That’s someone frozen in their seat
as the world spins quickly around them.
They watch with a frown and wonder if this is how it ends.

Is this all I’m meant to become, or is there so much more to me?
And if there is, then why can’t I seem to find that side of me and let it free?
My world’s getting colder, and colder with every breath that I breathe,
And I’m beginning to wonder if I should just give up, and let it be.

In an instant, everything goes still, and time doesn’t change.
Life is filled with moments like these,
Where we are presented with an opportunity to do what we will.
We can walk away from it, play it safe, and maintain the routine.
Or we can grasp it with two hands, and tun with our dreams.

True, it’s risky.
There’s a chance it won’t work.
That we’ll be thrown back by our mistakes,
and we’ll have to take time to re-work,
everything that we know, and create a new path.

But we’ll push forward,
and learn to deal with the aftermath.

We’ll find a different way, and create something new.
We’ll form new bonds that are different than the ones we outgrew.
Each day will be different,
and if not then at least we’re doing something we love.

Now we’re doing something exciting, creative, fun, smart, enlightening,
or all of the above.
Now we’re chasing after our passions,
and have nothing that we’re scared of.

Instead of staying behind,
We’re dancing to the beat.
We’re not getting out of the kitchen,
because we know we can take the heat.

Life is full of setbacks,
and monsters that will do their best to make you feel incomplete.
They fill your head with lies or worthlessness and defeat.

But deep down we know we’re stronger than any of the gashes that they leave.
After all, in order for a phoenix to rise,
it must first burn to ashes
before taking flight.

Change is out there,
you just have to be brave enough to grab it.
Don’t let it scare you,
or force you to submit.

You must fight back, and take what is rightfully yours.

Only then will you truly be living.
Only then will you soar.

~Brooklyn Wilkins