I am here to live out loud!

"If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I will answer you: I am here to live out loud."

~Emile Zola

Since Sunday, I’ve had a lot of time to do a lot of thinking. In the blink of an eye, a whole host of people had their lives altered forever. I cannot help but think about the mother of the girl who is still in the fight of her life….for her life. I wonder what she is thinking, what is going through her mind. And then I think about my own daughters. Do I tell them enough that I love them? Do I remember to say it each time we part from one another? When we hang up from talking to one another?  Part of me lives in fear each time my youngest daughter walks away from me toward the school in the morning. Part of me lives in fear each day with my oldest daughter living in a major city on her own. A few weeks ago, the university my oldest is doing her grad work at was on lock down due to an armed man on campus. Fear? You bet. Last week, I heard of a school shooting at a charter school in Philadelphia. Make me nervous? Absolutely, but, that being said……

…..our lives are not meant to be lived in the shadows of fear and doubt! Our lives are meant to be lived out loud! We shouldn’t be sitting quietly, waiting for things to happen (or NOT happen for that matter). We shouldn’t be living in the ‘what if’s’ and ‘should have, could have, didn’t’ mode. We cannot be sitting around wishing we had told someone how we felt about them, had gone on the trip of a lifetime (because hey! We only get one of those lifetimes, don’t we?), had taken the time to get to know someone. Our lives were meant to be LIVED OUT LOUD!

Life is happening right now. RIGHT NOW!!!  As you sit here reading today’s blog, life is ticking away, second by second. Don’t sit back and wait for opportunities to come to you! LIVE OUT LOUD! Go and take those opportunities! Make the best of what you have right now and be thankful for it! Simply because things didn’t go your way, or something bad has happened in your life, don’t put your life on hold, worried about the what if’s. Live with the possibility that something GREAT will happen at any given moment, and live your best life each and every day. No regrets, no shadows, only bold and with purpose!

To quote Garth Brooks: “Our lives, are better left to chance, I could have missed the pain, but I’d have had to miss, the dance.” Don’t miss that dance, my friends…..LIVE YOUR LIFE RIGHT OUT LOUD!!! Don’t let the fear of pain get in your way of being true to you, living life out loud, wearing your true self on your sleeve, and always thinking thankfully!!!

Until tomorrow,  my friends…..are you living out loud or in the shadows of fear and doubt?

Think Thankfully!!