You Need To Get A Life

Photo by Shifaaz shamoon on Unsplash

Behind the scenes at an art festival.

A stadium concert.

Skinny-dipping.

A yoga class.

Really good sex.

Speaking for 200+ people.

I’ve had a lot of firsts (and a few coming up) in an astonishingly short amount of time recently. A little less than halfway through this mother of a life, and I’m living. Or more accurately, coming to life.

Embracing new and varied experiences. I’ve brushed elbows with congressmen and executives, live-watched Dell Technologies filming a promo, cried during my first yoga class, got called out for a joke about gifs, created a podcast, jumped off a cliff and a myriad other little new things. Heck — my first-ever video on the internet is a spoken-word parody of years-old broetry. (Very on brand for me.)

These firsts wouldn’t be exciting for most people. They’re laughably mundane for some. But for me? These little snapshots of confidence, moments of trying are everything.

Last year, I got upset with three friends for “not reaching out/reciprocating”. Nowadays, I’ve found that it’s ridiculously easy to accidentally leave people on read. Not out of genuine maliciousness. Not because you hate them. Messages actually do fall through the cracks when you’ve….wait for it…..got a life. People you care about shouldn’t, but at times, they will too.

The first time I hung out with my Nana in two years, we went to a baseball game. No life-altering questions. No family trinkets. No pearls of wisdom passed down. The game didn’t even start on time, and we almost got caught in a rainstorm.

I couldn’t stop smiling.

Friends, you need these moments. Whatever they look like for you. The moments where your heart is aglow, your spirit is fed, and your cheeks hurt from either laughing or crying or both.

I call myself a storyteller, but this is me actively collecting stories. Stashing them away like potatoes in a cellar.

Not writing about them yet. Maybe not even for a bit.

But my brain, body, and heart have been breathing deep and sucking all the oxygen out of these moments like I’m slurping the last bit of a melted milkshake through a straw.

Make your life a good story so you can tell good stories seems ridiculously common-sense. But sometimes, the common sense doesn’t hit you until you’re ready.

My podcast, We Don’t Talk About That, is launching this week!! Check it out and share with your friends.