Life is too short.

We all know that. We watch people come in and out of this life until it's our turn to leave. And you know what bothers me most about funerals? It is the same thing that bothers me about New Year's Eve. You make this resolution to be a better person, to work out or quit smoking all because the calendar changed, but in due time, almost everyone falls back into their old ways. When someone dies you realize a lot of our time here is taken for granted, and it takes the passing of someone close to you to make you want to change. To "be a better person." You think back on your own life and wonder what if that was me? What would I regret not doing in my life? But sure enough as time goes by we start to forget our time here is limited and we go right back to walking through the motions.

Me? I did everything right. I didn't have sex. I didn't do drugs. I made good grades. I never went to parties. I had never even gotten a speeding ticket. I did everything right. I did everything the preacher, my parents and my teachers said I was supposed to do to have a good life. Then, one day, I woke up and my cousin wasn't there anymore. Just like that at 23 years old, he didn't get to live anymore. Everyone around my family and I had that moment where we realized our lives could be cut short at any moment. I sat there and I wondered if he died with any regrets. I wondered, "If it was me, what would I regret?" I have spent my entire life living by the book, never falling astray from the path picked out for me, focused on pleasing everyone around me so much so that I never did the things that made me happy.

Death gets you thinking like that, realizing people die every day with their regrets and mistakes. How many couples are stuck in a loveless marriage because they're afraid what it'll do to the "kids"? How many college students are forced to pursue a major that their parents picked out for them? How many people are afraid to love someone because they're not what society envisioned? How many people fight with every ounce of their body to keep the person they are inside a secret, knowing that if it ever came out even those closest to them might hate them. It sounds kind of silly when you say it out loud, but I really want to know what would you regret?

Now I'm not saying you should go crazy and rebel against the church and your parents, but what I am saying is it's 100 percent your decision. No matter what you do someone is always going to disagree, someone is always going to think they know whats best for you and nine out of 10 times they don't. People are going to come in and out of your life, and no matter how important you think their presence is you will survive without them. So love whoever! Go be whatever you want to be! Someone once told me if you live your whole life listening to your preacher, your parents, your teacher or some guy on a television, and you're still not happy, then you deserve the life you're living. It is perfectly okay to do all of those things as long as you can find it within yourself to be happy with the decisions you've made.

Life is too short to do anything that doesn't contribute to your happiness.