There comes a point in everyone’s life where you’re just... sort of cruising. Everything seems to be going pretty okay. Everyone around you is generally healthy, you have a pretty solid support system, and you’re working towards your goals and enjoying life.

I'm at this point in my life right now.

Life is going my way. Nothing too exciting, and nothing too stressful. It’s been a while since I’ve been at this point in my life. Summer just began, I’m starting my full-time camp job soon, I got a gym membership and I’m spending time with people I love. I sort of don’t know what to do with myself when I have no essays or projects to be working on; I always feel so weird when summer starts. I wake up every day and crave for something more, something exciting.

We live in a society where nothing is ever quite “enough” for us. We never have enough clothes, enough friends, enough food or enough self-care. My day-to-day life is going pretty well, but something still seems like it’s missing. There’s a piece of my heart that has a hole that needs to be fulfilled. The other day, my coworker told me a story of when she and her fiancé took a spontaneous trip to Gatlinburg after a bad day at work. She told me that any chance that she gets a few days off, she will go and travel somewhere — whether that be a new store or a new state. She inspired me to write this article. After having that conversation with her, I did some serious reflecting…

Are you living or just surviving?

We all get so caught up in living a routine life. We go from spontaneously building forts as kids to a regime of wake up-work-eat-sleep. So I decided that this “missing” piece in my life is truly just going out of my comfort zone and ordinary life and doing something new. I admire people who live life like this. As my life is unfolding at a steady pace right now, I need to take this opportunity to live it to the fullest. So as you’re reading this, think about something big or small that you could do today that would make you feel a little more alive, a little more excited and grateful to live the life you do.

Hug your mom, bake your dog some treats, bring your significant other flowers, smile at a stranger, read a book, call a distant family member or take yourself to Starbucks. There are so many things in our lives that we simply just don’t get around to doing simply because we are so used to routine. Summer is just starting: get up and do something. I challenge you to live the beautiful life that you do, not just survive through it.