Dawn another day

“We've woken up another day,” my grandfather would say when you asked him how he was. It seems like an everyday occurrence, but that doesn't make it any less important. You've woken up another day! A day full of hours, minutes, seconds, for you to honor life.

The fear of death is perhaps one of the most shared fears by all human beings. The only certainty we are born with is that we will die, and yet, faced with this certainty, we panic. We cling to life and kick and scream at the possibility that in a second, we will pass to another plane of existence. In reality, what scares us is perhaps not death itself, but the uncertainty, the profound intrigue of not knowing what happens next. Will we suffer? Will we rejoice? Will we be at peace? Perhaps we are more frightened by the pain of those left behind than by not knowing what our soul's next step will be.

Tibetans say that death is merely a milestone in the long life of our soul. We die and are reborn infinite times. We only borrow this body for a limited time, and we have the opportunity to play the game of life with a clock that ticks down the minutes we have to breathe. And what do we do during those minutes, those hours, those days, months, years, that we have as a gift? That's what truly counts.

Sometimes life places us face to face with the abyss, giving us a jolt and telling ourselves, "Watch out! Remember, this isn't forever. What are you going to do with the time left?" For some, it will be seconds, for others, days, for others, years, and what truly matters isn't the amount of time we have, but the quality of it. Sometimes waking up is hard, but it's the only way to realize that there is another way, another path, a map to go inward, which we can only access when we allow ourselves to shed what we are not.

How much longer are you going to wait to do what you love? How long has it been since you lost track of time and space doing what you enjoyed so much? How much longer are you going to wait to go to that place that draws you so much? How much longer are you going to wait to change your habits and truly nourish your body, which is your only temple on this Earth? How long are you going to wait to say what you don't dare to say? How much longer has to pass before you live faithful to your most genuine version and not to what others expect of you?

Death isn't what sets us free; what truly sets us free is losing our fear of death. Leaving behind all those things we don't dare to be or do for fear of what others will say. Setting a date to launch into everything we long to do when we have time. Living each day with the greatest possible gratitude, honoring every minute of life as if it were sacred.

It doesn't matter so much when your story ends; what matters is what you are and what you do today. What matters are the leaps of faith, the radical changes, the decisions you make to live true to your essence, what you do purely and exclusively for pleasure. You matter. Fear may not go away, and the key isn't trying to lose it, but rather acting in spite of it. Let it become a friend who reminds you that every day counts, that what you do today is worthwhile, and that today you have, once again, the chance to change the course of your story.

Another day has dawned. What are you going to do with it?