The Seed.

It happens on a day that starts off like any other, most likely one at the end of a week that has dragged on from monotonous tasks and endless to-dos. You may be getting over the flu, or you may have finally finished a project that’s been hanging over your head for months. It may be a sunny, spring-like day after months of rain. It may be triggered by a joyous conversation with an exceptional person, or a simple photograph or articulate article you found in a travel magazine. It might be the result of reading about the momentum of a person you’ve never met.

You may not know where it came from, this pure and crisp voice that miraculously rises out of your subconscious through layers of negativity, responsibility, cynicism and obligation that can build over time unchecked. It’s that small tickle of nervous excitement that pinches you in the stomach when you realize there is something incredible on the horizon that you could actually make happen of your own volition with a little change, a little risk and a significant amount of enthusiasm. It’s the sudden and often overwhelming awareness that the only thing keeping you from unqualified joy is, and has always been, you.

The resulting fruition of this moment- the business started or abandoned, the trip taken or not taken, a goal met or altered, is not nearly as important as the seed. Because that light feeling—the feeling that you have more lifting you up than weighting you down—is an assurance that your heart is in tact and that no matter your age or your circumstance, the time you have left to live has as much promise and possibility as the time you’ve already lived through.