What Dies Inside Us While We Live

“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.” — Attributed to Norman Cousins

Here’s the thing about our dreams. They don’t usually die all at once, they just kind of slowly fade. We finish school, get the job, get married, have a kid or two, and it all feels like we have less room to breathe. We tell ourselves there’ll be a better time to get to it, and “someday” keeps sliding farther out until one day we realize we stopped saying the goal out loud altogether. From the outside, nothing looks off. So we keep the routine going and handle what needs handling. We’re there for everybody who leans on us, but inside, that fire burns a little lower than it used to. It’s not about the time we have left, it’s that we gave up on what we wanted long before we had to.

But if our own transformations have taught us anything, it’s that we’re capable of way more than we ever gave ourselves credit for. No matter our age and no matter how long that thing’s been sitting there.

So here’s the move today. Let’s go grab that thing that’s been sitting on the shelf. The one we set down but never really stopped wanting. Let’s say the goal out loud again, even if it’s just to ourselves. Then we take one small step at it, because we already proved to ourselves that small steps work. That’s the whole story of our transformation.

Let’s not let the part of us that still wants more go quiet. Not while we’re still here to chase it.

#MotivationMonday