The Gulping Of Life

I have always been impressed by the people around me who seem to me to be gulping life--grabbing and devouring every possible minute and opportunity. They don't just make the most of their time. They actually gobble it up, whether they are doing what they always do or trying something they never have. They are unfazed--so it seems--by illness or setback. There are roads to be traveled, so they travel them. There are foods to be tasted, so they taste them. There are people to meet, so they meet them.

While I tend to like doing rather than watching, I never really gave myself credit for being a life gulper. Not fast enough, I suppose, or not open enough, or not aware enough of how many things you can miss when you don't gulp. What I am learning, however, is that there are actually many ways to gulp. You can try all kinds of things that are new, or you can passionately share what you already love with others. You can run after every opportunity, or you can jump excitedly toward the ones that speak to you the loudest. You can throw yourself headlong, or you can simply forge ahead on every path.

I am still discovering how to gulp life--in whatever way I can. Some days, I am happily quite full, and others, I am left still hungry. It can be a daunting task. But like any learned skill, it takes watching the people already doing it. Like anything that is worth doing, it takes practice, even when practice makes you tired. Like anything that looks better on the results side than on the execution side, it takes a leap of faith (after all, what if you gulp something that's not good for you?).

My gulping friends are right though--you do taste a lot more when you gulp. You see a lot more, and you hear a lot more. And best of all, you feel a lot more. And there is always time for that...