What does it mean to Love like You Only Live Once and subsequently to Live like You Only Love Once? Well the thoughts and approaches to answering this set of questions is endless, to say the least. However, I am going to try and take bit of a personal approach and share my thoughts.
Life is so very precious for so many reasons. Regardless of our belief system, we tend to place a high value on life itself and are often challenged with the balance between living and existing. The anagram YOLO (You Only Live/Love Once) has become the battle cry of both baby-boomers and Millennials alike as we seek to get the most out of lives and our experiences. Yet when it comes to Love, we seem to hover somewhere between feeling our way around in darkness or just waiting and hoping that the love of a lifetime will just fall in our laps. (Remember, first-hand experience is my primary reference... ) So the challenge is to break the cycle, but at the same time not feel like the "Charge of the Light Brigade"... Well, good luck with that! The hard truth is there are no guarantees in life. There is no secret formula that will insure success and the proverbial - happy ever after.
What we do have is attitude and choice. We have the ability to choose not to be a victim of our condition and therefore adapt an attitude of optimistic confidence in the life we live and the choices we make. I know, this sounds real nice when we read it or we hear some "other person" tell us how it has worked for them. Trust me, I know. Yet, I think this is the moment that we have to challenge ourselves to break the cycle, turn the corner, come out of the dark, or get a move on. However you want to think about it but we have to recognize our moments of truth... and be true to them!
In closing, I will offer my own process for consideration. I consider myself to be a bit of a optimist at heart, as well as, a bit of a romantic in my ideas. Therefore, I will offer up some of my favorite poetry as my mantras in this process. The first is my "attitude" mantra. This is captured in the poem "Invictus": "I am the Captain of my ship... the master of my Soul". When it comes to my "choice/decision" mantra. I look to the "Serenity Prayer": "the Wisdom to know the Difference". Lastly, I have a poem that really does tie it all together for me. This is the poem "If": "to fill the unforgiving minute, with sixty seconds of distance run... Yours is the Earth and everything in it"... That is my approach to life and my attempt to... "Love like You Only Live Once" - "Live like You Only Love Once!"
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