Meaningful life...

I always thought that living a meaningful life meant spending it helping others around you. That the only way to successfully live a life of meaning, was to bring meaning to other peoples lives. I now believe that I had the definition wrong. Living a meaningful life is living a life without fear, to live everyday being open to all of the different possibilities that life presents.

I want to pose a question to anyone who might read this column. This is something I have been giving a lot of thought to recently.

How would your life be different if you knew how you were going to die?

This all started because I watched Tim Burton's Big Fish. It really got me thinking. How different would we be, if we knew when and how we were going to go? For some it might be constant stress, finding out you were going to go sooner rather than later. For others, it would be freeing. Even if it were going to be soon, it would change how you lived for even that short period of time.

So here is the kicker, if I knew how I was going to go, I would then know that I could survive anything outside of that. So I would be able to live free, without fear of anything. I could literally do anything knowing that I would survive. I would live everyday without fear, because fear stems from being afraid of death.... How it could happen, how it's going to happen, what will happen after? We struggle with this every single day. But if you knew... then you could do anything, you would be more open to trying new things, no limitations whatsoever.

This thought process has changed how I think now, how I am going to act from here on out. Because whether we know how it's going to happen or not, it's going to happen. It's the one truth, we are all going to die.

So why are we living in fear of death. Whether we die from old age, or fall out of a burning building, the outcome is the same. Death is both permanent and unavoidable, so from here on out, I will be living life without fear of it happening. I will fill every moment of my day with as many experiences as I can. Let us live free from fear, let us exist without worry. You will survive, or you won't. Either way, all you can do is live. If you are lucky enough to be fearless, then you are one of the few that will live truly happy. Maybe that is why, people like to believe that everything happens for a reason. That they have no control over their lives because then they aren't responsible for the outcome.

I on the other hand prefer not to give up my freedom of choice. Not everything happens for a reason, but that doesn't mean we have complete control over how it turns out. All we can do is choose each day to live well, experience much, and help those we can live the same way. From here on out, I will be that person. No matter what happens, I plan on living a meaningful life.... a life without fear.