WHAT does LIVING LIFE to the fullest mean?
NOT a day goes by that I am not reminded that life is short and should be lived to the fullest. But what is a full life when you have to work eight hours a day for someone else, pay bills and be a responsible mother, wife, sister, daughter, and friend? It is like you are bound to duty from all angle
By Ilonka Nazziwa
NOT a day goes by that I am not reminded that life is short and should be lived to the fullest. But what is a full life when you have to work eight hours a day for someone else, pay bills and be a responsible mother, wife, sister, daughter, and friend? It is like you are bound to duty from all angles. How then can you live life to the fullest?
I always imagine that a full life is where you throw caution to the wind and follow the desires of your heart. Kind of like the movie The Bucket List.
My dear friend, Betty, recently taught me an important lesson. Actually two lessons. A group of us girls were hanging out, and as usual the discussion veered off to relationships.
Betty was adamant that the wife owed the husband certain duties. And the wife was not at liberty to decline performing these duties regardless.
The rest of us (about four) disagreed, citing many reasons as to why business does not have to continue as usual. One of my reasons was that sometimes you just do not feel like it. Plain and simple!
At that response, Betty, in her calm way, asked: “Every morning you have to brush your teeth, do you always feel like it?’ Every day you have to wake up early and go to work. Do you always feel like it?â€
She went on and on, but in my head, her questions had already painted the picture.
Her point was clear. There is a lot I do on a daily basis that I do not always feel like doing. For example, dropping and picking children from school, bathing at the end of a wearisome day, going to the salon and sitting in the dreaded dryer, eating fruits, paying bills, when I would rather buy shoes with the money, I could go on. Betty had managed to portray the fact that life is full of duties.
I must say, though, that concerning the core subject matter of the wife always being ‘on duty’ I still adamantly disagree (all you Betty believers, do not hate me), but as regards that issue, I have to go back to the drawing board and find a new approach to the discussion, because Betty was obviously more prepared, or simply more deeply rooted in her cause than I was in mine. So watch this space because this will be a discussion for another day.
However, the spin-off lesson from Betty’s opinion was that whether we like it or not, life is full of activities, things and even people we do not like or feel. But we have to get on with life, because it has to continue.
Therefore, back to living life to the fullest, maybe in actual sense it has nothing to do with living life out doing only the ‘fun’ stuff.
Maybe it has nothing to do with throwing caution to the wind. Maybe it is about making the most of your duties; fun or not! Maybe it is investing more on the people you love and spending less on fighting with those whom you just do not ‘click’. Maybe!
Another lesson from Betty, and I must say for as long as I have known Betty, she has been consistent at this one thing. She can stand up for what she believes in, no matter how unpopular or ‘weird’ it sounds. If she has chosen to believe it, she will be able to tell you just how and why. She will not shy away.
I think Betty may be on to the whole concept of living life to the fullest.
NOT a day goes by that I am not reminded that life is short and should be lived to the fullest. But what is a full life when you have to work eight hours a day for someone else, pay bills and be a responsible mother, wife, sister, daughter, and friend? It is like you are bound to duty from all angles. How then can you live life to the fullest?
I always imagine that a full life is where you throw caution to the wind and follow the desires of your heart. Kind of like the movie The Bucket List.
My dear friend, Betty, recently taught me an important lesson. Actually two lessons. A group of us girls were hanging out, and as usual the discussion veered off to relationships.
Betty was adamant that the wife owed the husband certain duties. And the wife was not at liberty to decline performing these duties regardless.
The rest of us (about four) disagreed, citing many reasons as to why business does not have to continue as usual. One of my reasons was that sometimes you just do not feel like it. Plain and simple!
At that response, Betty, in her calm way, asked: “Every morning you have to brush your teeth, do you always feel like it?’ Every day you have to wake up early and go to work. Do you always feel like it?â€
She went on and on, but in my head, her questions had already painted the picture.
Her point was clear. There is a lot I do on a daily basis that I do not always feel like doing. For example, dropping and picking children from school, bathing at the end of a wearisome day, going to the salon and sitting in the dreaded dryer, eating fruits, paying bills, when I would rather buy shoes with the money, I could go on. Betty had managed to portray the fact that life is full of duties.
I must say, though, that concerning the core subject matter of the wife always being ‘on duty’ I still adamantly disagree (all you Betty believers, do not hate me), but as regards that issue, I have to go back to the drawing board and find a new approach to the discussion, because Betty was obviously more prepared, or simply more deeply rooted in her cause than I was in mine. So watch this space because this will be a discussion for another day.
However, the spin-off lesson from Betty’s opinion was that whether we like it or not, life is full of activities, things and even people we do not like or feel. But we have to get on with life, because it has to continue.
Therefore, back to living life to the fullest, maybe in actual sense it has nothing to do with living life out doing only the ‘fun’ stuff.
Maybe it has nothing to do with throwing caution to the wind. Maybe it is about making the most of your duties; fun or not! Maybe it is investing more on the people you love and spending less on fighting with those whom you just do not ‘click’. Maybe!
Another lesson from Betty, and I must say for as long as I have known Betty, she has been consistent at this one thing. She can stand up for what she believes in, no matter how unpopular or ‘weird’ it sounds. If she has chosen to believe it, she will be able to tell you just how and why. She will not shy away.
I think Betty may be on to the whole concept of living life to the fullest.