This somber, yet thought-provoking quote comes from the movie "Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind." Clementine Kruczynski, portrayed by Kate Winslet, is a character who is expressing her feelings of fear that she isn't fully living her life. She feels perpetually stuck in a state of anxiety; anxiety over the notion that's she been wasteful and reckless with her life.
Recently I've found a simple a truth in those words; the same familiar feelings that I'm not fully participating in my life, acting more as a bystander, sitting on the sidelines of my own story. I'm 20 years old, yet I find myself in this same perpetual state of anxiety. I can't seem to shake the nagging feeling that I'm running out of time. Running out time to change the world, constantly plagued by feelings that I'm wasting my youth.
Then I stumbled across another quotation, this time by author Eric Roth, in the screenplay for the "Curious Case of Benjamin Button."
“For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again.”
Every single line of that quotation resonated with me. I was hit by the stark realization, and confronted by a moment of clarity -- that it is never too late to begin living your life exactly the way you imagined it. Every day is a chance to start new; each day a new beginning in an endless world of possibilities. Whether you're 20, 40 or 80, each day of your life is a chance to be whoever you want to be. Just as Roth said, there are no rules to this thing.
So begin, do something brave and incredible each day, whether it's doing something you haven't had the courage to do or a spontaneous adventure. The world is an amazing place, and each day we should all be striving to leave the world a little better than we found it. So take the unexpected in stride and do whatever you want, with whoever you want. It's your life, and I think it's time we all stopped going through the motions and became invested in the legacy of our own lives. Separate yourself from the vapid and the unfulfilled, become someone who can look back and be in love with every second of their life. I plan to be. So stop wasting time thinking about how you're wasting your life, and start living.
"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all." -Oscar Wilde
