I do actually read obituaries \u2013 not because I\u2019m getting to the age where I feel I should make some notes on my own behalf, but because I like to see how people sum up their lives when they reach the end.<\/p>\n
Ernest Hemingway once wrote: \u201cEvery man\u2019s life ends the same way and it is only the details in how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another.\u201d Of course, this was written from the perspective of someone who has lived an extraordinary life by any standards.<\/p>\n
As a story-teller, Hemingway was a keen observer. He didn\u2019t take to abstract philosophical contemplation. Instead, he preferred to write about life as it presents itself in the real world \u2013 often based on his own experiences. However, he did not glorify the ordinary life. Rather, he applauded ordinary people who find themselves thrown into extraordinary situations and rise to the occasion. In his view, life \u2013 anybody\u2019s life \u2013 was to be lived like an adventure \u2013 enough to make it worthy of a good story.<\/p>\n
As a counselor, I\u2019m used to seeing people in crisis. Before they come to me, many of my patients have arrived at a crossroad in their lives. We may talk for a while about the need for losing weight, eating a healthier diet, exercising, etc. But as soon as we dig a little deeper, it becomes increasingly clear why things have gone wrong in the first place. Diets and lifestyle changes can only treat the symptoms. But it\u2019s not just the body that cries out for help.<\/p>\n
Often, a great amount of pain and suffering comes to the surface when people reflect on how their lives have not measured up to their expectations. Some become so desperately disappointed in themselves that they get depressed to the point where it makes them sick. It\u2019s not only that they\u2019ve got off track at some point along the way. It\u2019s rather like there is no longer a track to follow, no path to pursue. It\u2019s as if they\u2019ve reached the end of the line, the end of their story \u2014 way too soon. When they begin to fear that life may hold nothing more in store for them, it frightens them to the core.<\/p>\n
Dr. Walter Bortz II, a friend and former neighbor of mine, wrote in his bestselling book \u201cWe Live Too Short and Die Too Long,\u201d that human beings have physically the potential to live healthy and active lives for well over 100 years. But he warns of the dangers of suffering a premature death that is not physical. It\u2019s the premature death of life\u2019s meaning without which we cannot exist over time. Living meaningful lives is as essential for our wellbeing as the health of our bodies.<\/p>\n
You may have seen the movie \u201cCity Slickers.\u201d The main character, Mitch Robbins, played by Billy Crystal, is stuck in his career and consequently finds himself thrown into a classic mid-life crisis. When he gives a speech at his son\u2019s school about the prospects of life as he sees it, it gets depressing, to say the least. The last chapter of Mitch\u2019s life, so it seems, has been written when he unexpectedly finds redemption in the course of a cattle-drive adventure with his friends and an old cowboy named Curly who follows his own drummer.<\/p>\n
For Curly, as for Hemingway, living the \u201cgood life\u201d \u2013 that is, a life worth living \u2013 is an ongoing adventure. It goes beyond the perks and rewards that come with success and wealth. The \u201cgood life\u201d is lived with passion \u2014 not just once in a while but every day. It demands an insatiable zest for life itself \u2013 no matter what the circumstances may be. Hemingway\u2019s arguably best known novel, \u201cThe Old Man and the Sea,\u201d is a celebration of the passionate spirit that remains triumphant even in defeat.<\/p>\n
Not everyone, of course, actually gets to experience a Safari in East Africa, go deep-sea fishing off the coast of Cuba or run with the bulls in Spain. But there\u2019s no need for all that to make life worth living. Feeling alive doesn\u2019t depend on particular places or extraordinary experiences. It doesn\u2019t even require to take place in public. Many of Hemingway\u2019s heroes are heroes within, writing their own stories in their own ways.<\/p>\n
Timi Gustafson is the author of \u201cThe Healthy Diner \u2013 How to Eat Right and Still Have Fun.\u201d Her book is available in bookstores and online at www.thehealthydiner.com or at Alpha XR \u2013 To receive her free monthly newsletter by e-mail, you may send a request to tmg@timigustafson.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I do actually read obituaries \u2013 not because I\u2019m getting to the age where I feel I should make some notes on my own behalf, but because I like to see how people sum up their lives when they reach the end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-23553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23553"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23553\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23553"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=23553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}