Are you Surviving or Living?

I have spent the last 2 days at home with my 8 year old son who was sick. While he lounged on the couch and I gave him medicine or made him something to eat occasionally, I cleaned and scrubbed the house, did laundry, and basically caught up on household chores. We survived. 

Are you just surviving daily life? Are you thinking each day "Man, I can't wait until this day is over!" or "Is it 5 o'clock yet?" Do you wake up each morning dreading the day ahead, already overwhelmed by your long to-do list and never ending emails? Are you "living for the weekend"?

Certainly, we all have our seasons of survival. I have had mine. I will never forget my youngest spending 2 months in the NICU after her early birth and having a 2 year old at home that needed me too. We survived. Even before that, I had seasons of survival. I survived while grieving the loss of my mother from cancer. I survived while spending an exhausting amount of hours working toward completing a Master's thesis. Yes, there will most assuredly be seasons of survival in all of our lives.

But seasons come to an end. They fade into the next season. Sometimes it takes weeks, months, even years. Then one day you look up, and life is a little easier. You can smile again. You begin to plan for things again. Look forward to things again. 

For some, however, they are in a constant state of survival. Getting up every morning in dread, rushing off to work, working all day, coming home, eating dinner, collapsing on the couch to watch Netflix  and going to bed - only to get up the next day and do it all over again. Maybe on the weekend, they get a reprieve and are able to relax, breathe, live a little. Maybe even then, they just sleep, eat, repeat. When did life become a series of days, weeks, months, or years of just surviving?

I look around and I notice those that are just surviving, and I notice those that are living. Those that are living may have similar daily struggles as those that are surviving but they make time for parts of life that often get pushed to the "back burner". Health, self-care, family time, reading, learning, nature, spirituality, community. Just to name a few. People that are living life make time to smile, laugh, relax, and do something fun. 

People who are surviving life will say "there's not enough time. I'm too tired to do..." There IS time. We all have the same amount. You get to decide what is a priority for you. You always have a choice. Put down the remote. Turn off the Netflix. Decide. Right now. What is important to you? What would "living" look like for you? And then GO AFTER IT.

Even if it's just for 10 minutes a day. Do it anyway. 10 minutes of self-care is better than 0 minutes. 10 minutes of taking a walk outdoors is better than never spending time in nature. 10 minutes of playing with your kids is better than just kissing them goodnight. 

You will never regret "living" life when you come to the end of yours. The opposite of life is not death. The opposite of life is "surviving". Stop surviving. Start living your life. You deserve it.