Life is short. Too damn short.

In the past day I’ve come across these websites: (please check them out, some of them were pretty profound to me)

www.jennyslight.org
www.onepercent-cure.org
http://theinvestedlife.msn.com/investor.aspx?type=blog&aid=i_7&id=26481389
http://www.parentdish.com/2010/12/01/the-year-of-doing-it-anyway/

A group of volunteers I know “adopted” a family for the holidays and planned to purchase presents and clothes and food. One of the children was getting treated for a brain tumor, but unfortunately passed on Thanksgiving Day. (They are still giving the presents, though this Christmas will still be painful for this family.)

My office donated Thanksgiving feasts for families, one of whom is a single mother being treated for cancer, who has a 7 year old son. She’s drawing up her will, “just in case.”

I feel like there’s a lesson in all of this information.

I’ve spent a lot of my life focusing on doing the right thing, the smart thing and not taking lots of risks. Risk equals danger to me, and I’ve had enough of dangerous and scary living. I wouldn’t change anything about my life, and am proud of the life and choices I’ve made. I built a safe life because it was just what I wanted and needed. But I didn’t push many limits in my efforts to create a safe life. Now that I have my safe life, I’m feeling brave enough to step out of line a bit.

Waiting for things to be “right” (in the bank account, at work, with your weight/haircut/boyfriend) before you buy a house/have a baby/take a vacation/pursue your dream is beginning to sound….well….dumb. Like a waste of a limited commodity, namely time.

I pray that this lesson isn’t being hammered into my head for anything more meaningful than to tell me its time to get off my butt, but I think its time to get off my butt.

I’m not exactly sure what it is I’m going to do once I’m off my butt, but I’m going to give it a shot. I’m not going to spend so much time focusing on the right, smart thing, and try to spend some time doing what I want to do.

I’m a smart girl, with good intentions, so I seriously doubt I’ll move to Paris or sell my possessions or start doing anything dangerous or illegal or irresponsible. (In the past, when I imagined stepping away from my “safe” way of doing things, I envisioned unpaid bills, dirty clothes, my starving children crying while I wondered the house with a crazed look in my eye and paint in my unkempt hair. That’s not what I have in mind.)

I just mean I’m going to be more mindful about saying yes to things I want to do, and no to things I don’t want to do. Things that bring me joy and peace and happiness are welcome. Those that bring me stress and anguish and pain will be less and less tolerated.

Where’s your wild side?