One Month To Live

"I am convinced that it is not the fear of death, of our lives ending, that haunts our sleep so much as the fear...that as far as the world is concerned, we might as well never have lived."

Harold Kushner

I picked up this book by Kerry and Chris Shook a while back, but haven't read it yet. I have a bad habit of doing that. Mostly because I buy so many books at the CBD sales, so they tend to pile up. Anyways. I decided a few days ago to read this in February. Then I remembered that February only has 28 days (well, 29 this year...Happy leap year!).

So, obviously, that means I had to start it tonight!

Through their ministry, the Shook's noticed that so many people make drastic life changes when they find their time on earth is drawing to a close. Their priorities are clearer. Their lives become richer and more meaningful. Their relationships and conversations are more important. So the Shook's started thinking, "Why don't we live that way all the time?" Why do we wait until the end to be the people we want to be, to do the things we want to do?

I like the idea of living purposefully. It's kinda my mantra: "Live on Purpose", "Live Loud". These are quotes I have around on a daily basis and try to live out. But its easy to get distracted. Life gets in the way of living, sometimes. Its a weird paradox, but its true. We get caught up in the doing, the busyness, the stuff. And we forget who we are, what we're made to be. I don't want to get to the end of my life and have nothing to show for it. I want to have the stories, the proof, that I lived my "dash" to the fullest. (The "dash" is the space between the day you're born and the day you die. Think tombstone. There are only two dates on there, but the thing that matters most is how that dash between them was spent. [This idea came from the book, by the way, not my own brain.])

So for the next 29 days, I will be working my way through this book, working to purposefully live my life and make it habit. I might occasionally blog about it, or it might all be personal and live in my journal for a while. But I'm doing it. A Personal Challenge! (Unless one of you wants to pick up a copy and go through it with me!)

"We are what we repeatedly do.

Excellence, therefore is not an act, but a habit."

Aristotle