A Life Well Lived

1292 Words3 Pages

As a young girl at 14, I used to reminisce about the future, how badly I wanted to grow up, to drive, to be popular in high school, go to college and land an amazing job, have a huge home, nice cars, and an extremely handsome husband. The older I got, the more I began to realize all of the things I once desired for were not what I truly wanted. I began to realize the value of happiness, adventure, and creating memories rather than the value of temporary popularity, material items, and physical appearances. What I realized was that when one is lying on their deathbed, because the only thing guaranteed in life is death, they will not think, “oh what a lovely car I drove” but rather, “I remember when I went on my first road trip with my friends.” As mentioned in “Tuesdays With Morrie” by Mitch Albom, Morrie emphasizes the idea, “once you learn how to die, you learn how to live,” meaning, remembering that one day we will all depart from this world, one will realize what it truly means to live. Another pointer that can essentially alter one’s vision of living life: to live simply, as discussed in “Where I Lived and What I Live For” by David Henry Thoreau. Although thinking about death is a harsh reality on a young teenager, it is rather helpful to wrap our heads around it at a young age. Why? because as one grows older, they will see more death. Living a simple life may seem boring to a young teenager, but as one grows older and their schedules become bustled with work, and responsibilities, they will wish that they could step back, and choose a simple lifestyle.

What I found is that if one were to sit down, and think of their future realistically, they could certainly find an approach on life that will not cause one to regret the...

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...lead to stress-another thing that is so common. If one chose to live simpler lifestyles and slow down their lives a bit and relax rather than overwhelming themselves with so much, maybe they would be able to enjoy their lives more. Managing time will lead to extra time to go out and create memories, and focus on living and being happy. When one departs from this world, they will think of their past and recall memories and become content with they fact that they did not let their time slip away being overwhelmed and completely trapped in the world while working their lives away to simply satisfy their materialistic needs. One will look back and remember that they lived a life of meaning, a true everlasting joy to know that they lived a great life.

Works Cited

"Tuesdays With Morrie" by Mitch Albom

"Where I Lived and What I Lived For" by David Henry Thoreau

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