Life & Other Thoughts - JR Everhart

I have recently lost several people in my small circle of friends.  Some my own age, which always forces me to look at my own mortality.  Considering that, I’m still not 100% done grieving the loss of both my parents in 2018, and I doubt ever will be.  But, my outlook is that death is a part of life in this world as much as living is, though death and dying do make me stop and evaluate what’s important within my life. 

I realize now that I've spent too much time worrying about making money and, in turn, attempting to care for the people in my life that I love and cherish.  Presently, I find myself spending a lot of time in deep thoughts of regret from mistakes of my past (even whilst considering a decade of recovery counseling resulting in life changing healing and restoration within my world).  As I've written about prior, I continue to fight shame and guilt.  To top that off, I ruminate on my current state of loneliness as a middle-aged man.  It's an unavoidable fact that middle-aged loneliness is a growing national epidemic for both men and women. 

Our modern world of online “community” has isolated us in ways that have never been experienced before in human history.  Today, so many receive their personal validation via how many likes they get or how many people wish them a Happy Birthday on via social media.  We’ve attached a falsified acceptance and self-worth to these things, all of which are built on shallow acts of admiration that blow around social media like the wind.  I find that there's is no real validation in these things. 

There has to be more to our lives!  We need connection and face-to-face interaction with people.  I used to work with a guy, years ago, that would stop everything to spend time a few moments with you.  He was very intentional about this.  I recall him stating that life is too short and subsequently, how important it was to take a minute and enjoy the company of others.  Looking personally, I'm the first to admit to wasting a ton of my life lost in toxic self-talk and climbing ladders that lead to nowhere.  I tell myself all the time that I need to get up and get moving.  That in itself, shakes off the ropes of dysfunction and bondage.  God created us to be in constant motion, and when we are, our mood automatically elevates.  I'm of the opinion that forward motion can be measured via the amount of love one has for themselves.  

As such, all this movement should make us cognizant of grace within our lives.   Life is too short to live any other way!