Remember You Must Live
- Michael Drake
- Mar 25
- 2 min read
What feels like being alive?
Not productive.
Not accomplished.
Not admired.
Alive.
Is it laughter that makes your stomach hurt?
Is it a cold plunge that shocks your breath awake?
Is it sitting on the floor with your kids with nowhere else to be?
Is it deep conversation where time disappears?
We’re very good at surviving.
We’re very good at achieving.
But when was the last time you felt undeniably, undeniably alive?
Here’s the answer most of us avoid:
We postpone aliveness for someday.
After the promotion.
After the kids grow up.
After the stress slows down.
And someday quietly becomes never.
Here’s the Truth We’re Taught to Avoid
We’re taught that life is something you build first… and experience later.
Work now.
Play later.
Endure now.
Enjoy later.
But mortality doesn’t promise “later.”
In The Paradox of a Mortal Mind, I write about the grid — the visual reminder that our weeks are finite. When you actually see your life laid out in small boxes, it hits differently. You realize how many are already filled in.
Presence isn’t passive.
It’s intentional.
Being alive isn’t automatic.
It’s chosen.
The tragedy isn’t that life is short.
It’s that we forget to inhabit it.
Quote from The Paradox of a Mortal Mind
“One day you will run out of tomorrows. The question is whether you truly lived inside your todays.”
That line isn’t meant to create fear.
It’s meant to create focus.
When you remember you will die, something strange happens.
You stop arguing over trivial things.
You stop chasing validation.
You start asking better questions.
Like:
What actually matters today?
Who deserves my full attention?
What would make this week feel real?
A Friendly Reminder
As a teacher, I’ve watched students count down to Friday.
As adults, we count down to vacations.
As retirees, some count down the years wishing they had done more.
We live in countdown mode.
But life isn’t a waiting room.
Presence isn’t found in grand gestures.
It’s found in noticing.
The warmth of your coffee.
The sound of your daughter laughing.
The way your chest expands when you take a slow breath.
Aliveness is subtle. But it’s there — if you stop long enough to feel it.
This Week’s Action
Schedule one joy-based activity.
Not productive.
Not strategic.
Not for networking.
For joy.
Put it in your calendar like it matters — because it does.
Go for a sunrise walk.
Play a sport just for fun.
Have dinner without phones.
Read fiction instead of scrolling.
Call someone who makes you laugh.
Don’t wait until life calms down.
Remember:
You are not just here to exist.
You are here to live.
And living — truly living — requires your presence.
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