Please forgive the cliche, but life is too short.

Life is too short to obsess over the clothes I don’t really want to wear. It’s too short to be draped in pretense when what I want to be is naked.

Emotionally.

Life is too short to be anything other than who I want to be and who I am needed to be by those in whom I am invested.

Life is too short to hide my tattoos.

Life is too short not to pour my heart and soul into my people. My relationships. My story. My hopes. My dreams. Your hopes. Your dreams. Your story. Your people.

Funny how often they coincide, because the conscious life is selfless and self-centered at the same time.

If you’re doing it right, isn’t it the same thing? If I pour into you, don’t I pour into me? Aren’t we on this road together? Can I take care of myself, so I can take care of you?

Life is too short to not take care of myself so I can take care of you.

Life is too short to worry about 4:00 at 2:00. It is too short to worry about a promotion when you’re staring across from me with your heart broken. Life breaks hearts sometimes. It’s beautiful too. It’s vast. Simple. Small. It’s too short not to soak in every moment when the moment is here.

Life is too short to be afraid of dying. If you’re always in the present, then you’re always alive. Until you’re not. Then, what will you care?

Life is too short to wear anything other than my favorite jeans.

Every day.

Life is too short to worry about the bacteria in my jeans.

No, I’m not going to wash them because they fit just right, and life is too short not to eat french fries.

So I’ll stick with the bacteria.

Life is too short to hide behind the pretense of shame when what I really want is love. So I’m gonna love the hell out of you, and if I love too hard, remember that life is too short to withhold forgiveness.

Forgive me, I’m rambling. Life is too short not to ramble every now and then.

Life is too short to try and keep prepositions off the end of sentences when there’s so many other things to worry about.

Life is too short to not try and be clever.

Why do we waste time pretending that we don’t actually want to be wrapped up in someone’s arms? On their minds? In their hearts?

Life is too short to fly solo.

Life is too short to think small. It is too short to poison the earth with hatred. I’m pretty sure hatred is worse than carbon emissions. Let’s create a love Prius for Donald Trump.

Let’s create cold fusion out of the energy we spend hating gay people. Life’s too short to hate. It’s not too short for cold fusion.

Cold fusion > hatred.

Life is too short, but the moment is long. It is deep and forever. We reside in moments, not hours, not days or years. Life’s too short not to embody this moment. To own it.

Life’s too short to be safe. It’s too short to die without scars and stories, surrounded by the wet, loving faces of those who unwillingly let us leave their moments.

Life’s too short to hide behind a fortressed and calloused heart. It’s too short not to try again. It’s too short to hurt when we should hurt. It is too short not to ask for help, or to give it.

All we have is right now. Each other. The moment.

Please forgive the cliche, but sometimes, life is too short not to use cliches.

~

Relephant read:

The Key to Freedom is Forgiveness.

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Author: Mathis Kennington

Editor: Travis May

Image: Flickr/Steven Pisano