La vida

Life is meant to be lived.

Like, of course it is.  But I mean think about it.

Life is meant to be lived.

The meaning of the infinitive verb to live certainly has different meanings for different people.  I know this, because the definition has changed even for me in the past 3 months.  Sure, at the beginning of February I would have said that life is meant to have purpose and we should live for that purpose.  Solid start I'd say.  However, my opinion of to live (vivir) has become more... robust... I'd say.

Perhaps I'd say it's more like, live a life of purpose and take advantage of the opportunities to do the things you said you'd never do.

Like today-- for instance-- today I jumped off a bridge.  With a harness and rope.  Into a river.

Yes, I jumped.  Yes it was a tall bridge.  Yes the harness was incredibly tight and uncomfortable.  Yes, the river had water in it (but surprisingly not that cold).

So there you are, harnessed and all, on the side of this bridge, clinging to a rusty railing, staring down at turquoise water slowly drifting by in this steep ravine.  Hills on either side.  Big sharp stones line the sides of the river.  Brush and tiny bushes and trees spot the dusty landscape.

I look down again, and the instructor starts counting.  Tres, dos, uno... vamos!

In that moment, you don't have time to look back.  There is no turning around.  Life is incredibly simple in that moment, because you have one direction you must go.  (You may not like that direction, but it is evident before you.)

So you let go of what you've been holding onto, what you've been using for support, what has been protecting you from falling off that ledge..

And you just jump.

* * * * * * *

I will say this (and you might think I'm lying, but think what you will):  I did not fear jumping off that bridge at all.  Period.   I will be honest and say I was probably an idiot for signing up and spending my euros on something without even researching it.  But the name sounded cool (puenting -- aka. jumping off a puente), and I knew it involved a harness and professionals who do this for a living (I mean they do, right?).  So I just did it.

And got on a bus.

And harnessed myself to a rope around a bridge.

And jumped.

And swung back and forth.

And fell into the water with a plunge.

Life was perfect in that moment.  I had survived.  I had a lifevest on so I wasn't drowning.  I was floating in a river with a perfect temperature.

I was invigorated.  I had adrenaline coursing through my veins.  I loved it.

* * * * * * *

Life is always in motion.  It's like that river that I floated and swam in today.  It moves and changes.  That's the way it was meant to be, I guess.  Life without change is stagnancy.  And we all know what stagnant water is like.  A stagnant life is worse though, because there is so much potential going to waste.  Change is what grows us.  Doing things out of the ordinary gives us experience.  It helps us see the world in a new way.  It gives us a new story to tell.  Experience is the pen that helps us write our stories in the infinite library of lives around the world.  Let's be honest-- a book with only a page-long story would be so incredibly boring.

But learn to love motion.  Learn to embrace energy.  Like the breeze that blows through your hair as you stand on a bridge in Aznalcollar and look down into turquoise water.  Like the river that rushes, or meanders, along beneath it.  Like the passion of a Andalusian flamenco dance.  Like the waves that break on the beaches of Lagos.  Like the crazy tea-dancers in Morocco.  Like the hot Sevillan sun on cobblestone.

Life has one direction.  You can only go one way.  Sure people try to "swim upstream", but they fail miserably.  Before they know it, they turn around and all of their friends and family are kilometers downstream and they're all alone.

Don't be that person.  Learn to swim with the current.  Learn to... well, jump off bridges I guess.

So embrace the movement of life.  We're meant to do, so let's do it.  Have an objective and get there.  Spot an opportunity and seize it.

Life is so simple, yet we make it so complex with our cluttered lifestyles and crazy schedules that we end up treading water in the same place without going anywhere.

Live a life of purpose, embrace its changes, and do the crazy things you said you'd never do.

I'm not advocating for jumping off a bridge.  But perhaps I am saying that the next time life presents you with that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I say, take it.  That is what I've learned in Sevilla.