Self Love Reflection: One Life To Live
Posted: May 15, 2011 at 2:54 pmPlease don’t take what I’m about to say in a depressing manner. We only have one shot at life. One. Then we die and can no longer be a part of this world.
That is the cold, hard truth. We like to pretend we can avoid it or that second chances abound. When it boils down to it, though, they don’t. Second chances don’t truly exist because we can never go back to reclaim any lost time or change the past. We can only strive to make the best decisions from this moment forward.
How exactly does this fit in with self love? Well, if we want to live the most fulfilling and satisfied lives as possible we need to love ourselves. We can waste our lives away with worry, regret, doubt, and negativity. We can spend too much time concerned with trivial matters of what size pants we wear or what other people think of our hopes and dreams. Instead of taking the reins and making life the best possible, we float along lost and broken.
Each day we choose what to focus our energy on – relationships that mean the most to us, how we look in the mirror, working hard at a personal goal, the fight we had with a friend, and on and on. We decide whether to end our days feeling like we experienced life or like it slipped by. I always try to keep the perspective that at the end of my life I won’t care about how flat my stomach was or awards I received. I will care if I lived with joy and surrounded myself with love.
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Fortunately, I don’t know when the end of my life will come. And that means I have to start making my life something I’m happy with right now. Why waste a single moment? We need to keep what truly provides a fulfilling life in perspective. Live that way today.
What can you focus on today so you end your day knowing you cultivated your best life? What should you ignore that tries to rob you of joy?
“Although time seems to fly by, it never travels faster than one day at a time. Each day is a new opportunity to live your life to the fullest.” – Steve Maraboli
Tags: self-love reflections
Love it!
As always, you make my heart jump with joy and my whole face turn into one big smile
And I’m very grateful for that!
I LOVE this post. I spent a lot of my life doing things I *should* or *ought* to be doing, instead of things I *love* and *appreciate* doing. When my friend was killed in Afghanistan, doing something that he *loved*, it sort of woke me up. I started asking myself why I felt like I didn’t deserve to do all of these things I loved & wanted to do, why I was waiting for a rainy/sunny/better day to do something special, why I was always holding out for a special occasion.
I (and everyone else everywhere!) deserve to be happy, to be pampered, to fill my days with activities that bring me joy, and I try really hard to stick to that mantra. 🙂
Happy Sunday, Tina!
This is one of my all-time favorite posts of yours since I started reading FFF! I always try to live every day to the fullest. Sometimes I have to remind myself that life is too short, but for the most part, I keep that attitude all of the time. I am never trying to compare myself or impress someone else. I find happiness in my own life and with my favorite people surrounding me.
Aw, thanks Krista!!!
Absolutely! I try and remind myself of this every day… some days I do better than others, but I’m working on it.
I’m new to reading your blog after reading your guest post on PB Fingers but I am loving your outlook on life 🙂
Such a beautiful post, Tina. I don’t know why, but it brought tears to my eyes! That first picture/quote is so true – we should focus on the one day that counts – today! Can’t say it enough – love your blog!
This post is wonderful. We should focus on today as it is a gift…..and that is why they call it the PRESENT 🙂
You are so wonderful!
This is so empowering to read. 😀
…and now I feel like my post tonight is the exact opposite of this. SIgh. I’m learning. With each day I am learning. There is so much more than worrying about my running, comparing myself to others and getting jealous. Thank you once again for this reminder!
We all need those reminders every now and again. I know I have my moments too. 😉
I have been focusing on living each day instead of worrying about what I did yesterday or what I should do tomorrow. Living in the moment doesn’t mean living recklessly, it means enjoying what we have around us!
Very inspirational post. As I’ve gotten older I’ve tried to live my life by the mantra that you should look back on your life regretting the things you did instead of regretting the things you never did. It definitely makes for a more interesting and exciting life.
I love that approach. I have always heard that life’s biggest regrets are often the things we didn’t do instead of the things we did. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
So true ~ this is a great post Tina! I tend to worry and fret about the small stuff and I need to let it go and focus on all of the great things I have and live more in the moment
This is a fantastic post. Thanks for the great reminder to live each day to the fullest!
This has been one of my favorites of your posts! Not that I don’t love them all, but this one-short but with a punch. Love it. I don’t want to miss out on anything, especially if its because of my pant size.
You know what? A few years ago I was in a job that paid well and all that jazz that made me absolutely miserable. The thing that gave me the courage to quit was realizing that I was going to die someday and I didn’t want to waist my living years being miserable. Thanks for the reminder; lately I’ve been feeling kind of stuck….
That is so awesome you did that. I bet it was hard and scary but SO worth it!
This is a fantastic post! We don’t really get a second chance on life, and if we intentionally thought of this every morning, I wonder how we would live differently? I had a post on this topic written in a little different way earlier this week. Here’s the link:
http://counselormusings.blogspot.com/2011/05/when-tomorrow-comes.html
Love this and you! Here’s to living life that best we can and with all that we have!
What a great post!!! Thank you for your beautiful insight!
“I always try to keep the perspective that at the end of my life I won’t care about how flat my stomach was or awards I received. I will care if I lived with joy and surrounded myself with love.”
I loved that! It is so true, lets focus on living with joy rather than harping over the small stuff!
So true and I try to remind myself of this all the time. I’ve spent many, many years of my life not enjoying my time because my pants felt tight or I felt bad about myself.
What a true and refreshing post! It is so hard to let things go, but once we do, God moves in big ways and fills in all of the gaps.
I love that view of God filling in the gaps. He does complete us in more ways than we can even grasp. 🙂
GREAT post! I don’t think it is depressing that our lives here on earth are short, it makes us remember to live them to the fullest! I agree with Laura.. this was so refreshing 🙂
amazing post- its scary to think there was a time in my life when I wanted to end it.. my ONLY shot at life forever… im so glad thats over and i can appreciate me being alive
I can relate to that. It is scary to think back about, huh? But thank goodness for God’s love to keep us safe so we can appreciate the blessings today! Have a great day Carrie. 🙂
LOVE this post. I always say “Life’s too short to deny yourself what you like for what you THINK you should like”
Ohhh! Love that!!!
Thanks for the thought provoking, inspirational post. It’s so easy to get caught up in the “small stuff” that we forget to live today for today.