To live

By: Gabriela Yareliz

It was a gray, humid day. I was out for a walk with my dog, Bunny, in the rain. It is one of those rains where everything is green and alive. I was trying to stroll while she would occasionally stop and try to make a feast out of acorns.

We are living another year. Praise God for that.

To live is a fantastic thing. The older we get, the better we are able to combine the fractions of who we were at certain points into a large masterpiece. When we look back, we realize that the person we were was only a piece of who we are today. We change.

It is a sad thing to go through life burning corn fields and leaving a heap of ashes. When we are afraid to face our mistakes or who we are, we stay the fraction of who we were meant to be. Fortunately for us, God is merciful. Every day He gives us breath of life, is a chance to trun things around and keep growing.

I like being outside. I am not a gardener, like my mom, or some crafty person who makes tree houses or anything; but I do like to walk and just be outside. This is a difficult thing in New York in the winter. Throughout the exam period, my dorm pal and I would go and take sanity walks; walks all the way to midtown or almost Chinatown and back. We would walk 40, 50 blocks, and not feel tired or bored. These walks are for no wimps! Keep in mind, some factors may be the fact that my friend runs like 10 miles a day or more, and I have a masochistic, endurance-is-everything streak.

Anyway,
each window sill is a new world; each block is a universe.

Sitting in a dorm room with fluorescent lighting makes you feel like you are still in the classroom or like you are some trapped lab rat in a failed experiment, which means you will be there for a while.

No matter what your New Year resolution list is, and I hope that by now you have not given up on the list, make living one on your list. Live, really live.

Step away from technology, fluorescent lighting and chairs, and live. I know we all have school or jobs, but take time for silence and introspection, and time to be outside– even if it is freezing cold. New Yorkers should take more time to walk when they can… haven’t you seen those terrible subway deaths? Walk people. Sometimes people get on at one stop to get off at the next two, where they could have walked.
It isn’t just about walking, but just breathing outside air.

Here in Florida, because it is so warm, and I am not as concerned of the rain being acid or a collection of sidewalk dog pee like in New York, I enjoyed a warm, humid and rainy walk with my dog  Mist, cows, trees, the smell of leaves and dirt, it is life in every breath. I love it.

It is in those moments, with no phone in hand, that we are left to our conscience and God. Let us take time this year to pray, and continue to have God’s plan for our lives, and who He wants us to be, unfold daily.
This year, pay attention to the people who surround you. Even if they are so different from you, whether you work with people where no one is in your age group or people whose personalities are miles away from yours, take the time to learn from these people, see what they care about, what moves them, what makes them smile; for of such things life is truly made up of.

This year: If you are near a lake or an ocean, visit it. If you live by a forest, explore it (stay on the trail please). If you live where it is warm, expose yourself to the sunny day. Walk barefoot. Walk in the snow (don’t walk barefoot IN the snow…). Talk to someone you’ve never met. Be an angel for someone who is lonely. Try a new dish. Walk in the rain. Leave a bad or destructive habit. Spend time with your family. Write a letter. Drive with your windows down and sing out loud. Join a cause you believe in. Learn 10 words in another language. Collaborate on a vision or project with a friend or someone from the past. Give thank you cards. Forgive. Try a natural remedy. Sanitize your cell phone (it gives you acne, I am not kidding). Take a photo you are proud of without Photoshop, Instagram or any alteration. Have faith. Set fear aside. Seek truth.

Make 2013 a year that you can look back on and say, I lived.
I truly lived.