Living Life Fully

By Kelsey Robbins


          Live your life to the fullest, enjoy ever minute are tidbits of advice that are often offered to college students. Yet does anyone really understand what that means? Perhaps living life to the fullest means something different to every person; whether it is by reading or sky diving, living life to the fullest will not have the same meaning for every person.
          The next question is how one goes about enjoying ever minute of their lives, considering people tend to get lost in work and all the things that need to be done.  My Positive Psychology class has spent most of the semester talking about this very topic. This was not our initial topic but whenever happiness and multiple other topics were discussed in class, the euphemism of living life to the fullest was always uttered by someone.
          We have watched multiple videos about those who are close to death but still enjoy every moment of life they have left. One such video  was "Tuesdays with Morrie,"  in which a beloved college professor, Morrie, is dying on ALS or Lou Gehrig’s dieses. ALS  is similar to Alzheimer’s disease except it leaves the mind intact but the body slowly deteriorates. Even though Morrie know he was going to die he wanted to leave others with life lessons before he left because he has always been a teacher so why not impart some last tidbits of knowledge  Morrie believed that some of the keys to living life are often the first things we lose during the rush of day to day life. He advice is straight forward:
           Sharing is a pretty simplistic process, most of us or taught it during pre-k. Yet it is something that few people stop and do. Everyone is so concerned about their own selves they forget how rewarding it is to give something back. Instead of just rushing through, take the time to help someone else, share a lesson, some of your snack ,anything, and just be open.  We have all seen people who seem to have everything, a good job, plenty of money, a family but they are not happy, something is missing.
          Morrie preached that “the truth is, you don’t get satisfaction from all those things, you know what really gives you satisfaction? Offering others what you have to give.” In other words sharing your good fortune, offering whatever you have to give, however much or little that is. This forges a connection a caring relationship, you know that you helped someone. On the flip side it lets other people know you care and that alone has the potentially to alter someone’s mindset. Morrie spoke of sharing, as bettering the world, leaving it a more beautiful place then it had been before.
           Do what makes you happy--simple, right? No, it is not; the world has a way of placing burdens on us that can cause us to stray from what we want to do. For example doing what makes our parents “happy,” getting a job that pays well just to make the mortgage payments. I know countless people who are majoring in what their parents want.
          To Morrie this never made sense; why would you let someone else run your life? Everything has a price today but you have to weigh the odds; is the two story house really worth your happiness?  This one is more complicated,  a balance needs to be found between loving what you do and affording the basic necessities. Morrie taught that  the bottom line is you should “Devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.”  This could be anything spend more time with your kids, volunteer for an organization you support, you don’t have to go chasing the perfect job.  Slow down and find something that makes you feel good, like you have a purpose.
           Love is one of the strongest connections we know. Truly loving someone means loving them unconditionally.  Accepting that individual  through every failure and every triumph.  Without this emotion, “you really do not have much at all. Love is supremely important,.” lectured Morrie.
          Love is oftentimes mixed in with family. Our families are where we learn to love unconditionally. I mean we are stuck with these people, so having them be supportive can truly be a life saver. Without love there are no connections; as humans we need these connections to get through the everyday struggles we face. There is no such thing as a one man army, no one man can go it alone.  Take the time to spend with those you are close to, foster these relationships because they are ultimately priceless.
           I find it interesting how we can learn the most about “living” from those who are about to lose their lives.  Perhaps it is because they accept that they are not going to live forever, they must take the time now. Morrie believed that “aging is just not decay, you know. It’s growth. It’s more than the negative that you’re going to die, its also the positive that you understand you’re going to die, and that you live a better life because of it.”
          Life is all about learning, testing and challenging yourself. It is up to you what you do but in the end realize you only get one shot. Are you truly living or just moving through life?