What Life Really IS About

"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans," John Lennon once said. He nailed that one right. We cannot predict where we'll be tomorrow or when it will all end. We cannot promise our Time because we can never make it bend to our will. What we can truly promise is our hearts. So why is it that so many people think anxiously about the future and forget that they are living in the present? Why is it hard for many people to remember the things that matter most in life?

Life isn't about keeping score.

It's not about how many people call you on the phone, how many posh parties you've been invited to or the connections you have. It's not about popularity and whether or not you hang out with the coolest clique on campus. It’s not about being the campus nerd. It's not about who you've dated or are dating, or haven't dated. Life is not about how many lips you've kissed, the places you've been to or which guy or girl likes you. Life is not about the sport you play or not liking sports at all. It's not about getting high grades or which college accepts you. It's not about the shoes on your feet, the clothes you put on or the way you style your hair. It's not even about money, religion, the place you live or the color of your skin.

I believe that life is all about love.

It's about who you love and how you let that feeling manifest itself. It's knowing that it is not what you have that's important but who you have in your life. It's knowing when to say what you feel when you feel it. Remember this poignant line from the movie My Best Friend's wedding?

"If you love someone, you say it, you say it right then, out loud or the moment just... passes you by."

It's about what you say and meaning it.

I believe life is about who you hurt intentionally or unintentionally to get what you want. It's about how you feel about yourself and how you work at building self-confidence. It's about inventing and reinventing yourself until you become the best person you can be. It's about finding real happiness, trust and companionship. It's about sticking up for your friends and at the same time, building new friendships with different kinds of people.

Life is about avoiding jealousy, overcoming ignorance and appreciating the beauty all around us. It's about seeing and accepting people for who they truly are and not for what they have. Most of all, it's about using your life to touch someone else's.

Life is the journey in between what you once were and who you are now becoming. So keeping tabs on what you have or not have is irrelevant. The journey itself is where the dance of life takes place and it is what we should focus on.

You ask: "Why?"

It's because I believe that life is the sum of the choices you make. When life is done, God will not care about what car you drove or how much you earned or how many hours you worked overtime. Instead, He will ask you how many people you gave a ride to when they needed it. He will ask you if you compromised your character to obtain a high salary and if you chose to work overtime than be with your loved ones. And most definitely, He will ask you what you did to help others.

In the book Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Professor Dumbledore said it best: "It is our choices, [Harry], that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"

Life is all about that.