Life is Not Measured by the Breaths You Take...
They are those moments that leave you frozen. Those in which you have to contain yourself, your words. They leave you bewildered, astonished. These are the moments in which you live, intensely live; the moments that take your breath away.
These are the moments that change your life. You could close your eyes and you know you have something to live for. You have even thought that you should pinch yourself because it seems so unreal.
What you have reached, which has finally made everything worthwhile, is not a dream. Some people may call it luck; others call it perseverance. But you will always remember the moments that left you speechless because those were the moments in which the train of life changed direction.
Life is made of moments
It is through these moments that you begin to contemplate your life and whether you are living sensibly, or on the other hand, you are trapping yourself. The platform of your train has nothing more to offer you; don’t wait for death. Get on the train.
Relax, and make mistakes; don’t try to be perfect. Try not to take things too seriously. Run more risks, travel more often. Climb mountains, swim in rivers. Go out and see the places you have never seen. Live more; worry less.
Don’t weigh your life down with a survival kit; make the most of life, and live everyday as fully as possible. Dive in, live passionately, and enjoy every interrupted breath.
The train of life
“Let’s live in such a way that when our moment of departure comes, our empty seat will leave beautiful memories for those who continue traveling on the train of life.”
Life resembles a journey on a train. With it’s changes in nature and direction, its accidents, its pleasant surprises some places, and its profound sadness in others…
The moment we are born, we board the train and find ourselves with our parents, and we believe that they will always travel by our side…But they will get off before we do, leaving us to continue the journey without them. All of a sudden, we will find ourselves without their company and without their irreplaceable love.
Nevertheless, many other people who will become very special and significant in our lives will board the train at every station….Our siblings, our friends, and at some point, the love of our life…
Some will take the train for just a little while. Others will go through their peaks and their valleys. And those who are best fit to help those in need will be revealed.
Most people, when they get off the train, leave a permanent vacancy, a permanent emptiness… others will pass through so imperceptibly that we won’t even know it when they’ve left their seats.
“Life is play that does not allow for a rehearsal. So, sing, laugh, dance, cry, and live intensely before the curtain closes and the piece ends, with no applause.”
-Charlie Chaplin-
It is curious to see how some of these passengers, even our loved ones, find their seats and get comfortable in different cars. Throughout the whole journey, they are separated, without any communication.
But in reality, the only thing stopping us from getting close to them is our own good will. On the other hand, sometimes it may be too late, and another person will eventually take their place.
The journey continues
We try to have a good relationship with everyone aboard our train, in each one searching for the best he or she has to offer. At some point in the journey, they might hesitate, and most likely we will have to understand them, but remember that we ourselves, many times, hesitate and have the need to be understood by others.
The biggest mystery for everyone is that we never know when, at which station, at what time, we will have to get off the train. Neither do we know when our friends and family, or even the person right next to us, will disembark.
Sometimes I think of the moment in which I will arrive at my destination. Will I feel nostalgic, fearful, happy, anxious…? Separating myself from the friends I have made will be painful, and leaving my children to carry on alone will be very sad. But I hold on to the hope that at some point, I will be so excited to see them pull into the station with a little more luggage than when they started.
What will make me happy will be to think that I contributed positively to help them grow, and to stay on the train until the very last station.
So, friends, let’s make our journey on this train mean something; let’s make it worth it.
HAPPY TRAVELS!!!
Images by Cata and Aida Donoso
