Here is what 102 years taught me:
A practical life is not a fulfilled life.
It's a small life. Every time you choose
only the sensible thing over what your
heart is showing you, you shrink a little.
And if you keep shrinking long enough,
you almost disappear. You become
a person who exists, but doesn’t really live.
A person who survives, but doesn’t
experience anything. A person like me.
I did everything right. I never made a mess.
I never caused a problem. I never
embarrassed anyone. And now I am sitting here,
at 102 years old, with nothing but regrets.
Not regrets about what I did wrong.
Regrets about what I never did at all.
You have a choice. Every day you have
a choice: the practical thing, or the thing
that could truly make you happy.
The sensible thing, or the thing that could
make you feel alive. For 102 years,
I chose the practical path.
I chose the sensible path.
And I’m telling you now, with whatever
time I have left: it was not always
the right choice.
So often, it was the wrong choice.
So please, don’t be too practical.
Have courage. Take the trip.
Say the words. Marry the person
who makes you laugh until you cry.
Make mistakes – not out of selfishness,
but out of the courage to live.
A practical life is not a fulfilled life.
It's a small life. Every time you choose
only the sensible thing over what your
heart is showing you, you shrink a little.
And if you keep shrinking long enough,
you almost disappear. You become
a person who exists, but doesn’t really live.
A person who survives, but doesn’t
experience anything. A person like me.
I did everything right. I never made a mess.
I never caused a problem. I never
embarrassed anyone. And now I am sitting here,
at 102 years old, with nothing but regrets.
Not regrets about what I did wrong.
Regrets about what I never did at all.
You have a choice. Every day you have
a choice: the practical thing, or the thing
that could truly make you happy.
The sensible thing, or the thing that could
make you feel alive. For 102 years,
I chose the practical path.
I chose the sensible path.
And I’m telling you now, with whatever
time I have left: it was not always
the right choice.
So often, it was the wrong choice.
So please, don’t be too practical.
Have courage. Take the trip.
Say the words. Marry the person
who makes you laugh until you cry.
Make mistakes – not out of selfishness,
but out of the courage to live.
Make memories.
Don’t reach 102 and realize you were so busy
being sensible that you forgot to live.
Don’t reach 102 and realize you were so busy
being sensible that you forgot to live.
(102-year-old woman)
