How are You Spending Your Dash?

“We do not choose to be born. We do not choose our parents or the country of our birth. We do not, most of us, choose to die; nor do we choose the time and conditions of our death. But within the realm of choicelessness, we choose how we live.” ~Joseph Epstein

There’s a lot of loss in the world and loss happens to all of us. We lose someone we love and our lives are never the same. We manage to get through the grief but the loss is always with us. Loss isn’t just about losing a person. It might also mean the “death” of a relationship, loss of a job, loss of money, loss of a home. There are all kinds of losses and the meaning of each loss is individual and very personal.

Whether loss is expected or sudden, they are the same in the heartbreak. We are never fully prepared to say goodbye to someone we love and/or let a relationship go. Both are profound and final.

I’d like to share with you one of my favorite poems. It is called The Dash, by Linda Ellis. When we leave this world one day, our life will be looked at with the beginning date and the end date.

The Dash is about the time in between those dates.

How do you want to be remembered?

What events in your life are holding you back?

Are you standing on the sidelines with sweaty palms afraid to get back in the game?

Have you not forgiven someone?

Have you not forgiven yourself?

Life does not stop with loss. It feels like it does. Yes, we are forever changed by loss, but life does not stop even if we want it to.

And as long as we remain, we are meant to live.

We are meant to live our best life. A life filled with love, joy, family, friends, abundance, prosperity, happiness, laughter and light. We are not meant to shrink and fade away because loss has touched us. We are meant to stand in the face of loss, grateful for the person and all we shared. We are meant to hold the love and the memories, keeping them close to our hearts yet still move forward.

Your life is precious. You deserve all good things. Don’t let fear hold you back. The legacy you leave does not only include your immediate family and the children you brought into the world. It also includes every life you’ve touched along the way.

How are you spending your dash?

To read the poem in its entirety copy and paste the link below in your browser:   https://hellopoetry.com/poem/1184764/the-dash-poem-by-linda-ellis/

Wishing you many, many years ahead and a beautiful “dash” others speak about often.