Teen girls, if you felt t
he earthquake yesterday like I did – on the east coast of America, while not devastatingly destructive, use it as a reminder. A “jolt” if you will. To wake-up, take a step back, slow down the pace, and take notice of what is around you.
Life is short. It’s true, life is short. And you probably think as I did, that you’re invincible at this age. You are running, doing, tasting, feeling, and wanting to experience everything in your grasp. Life is speeding by and you take comfort in that you have your whole future ahead. This I remember was both exciting and confusing at times. I would ask myself so many questions. Who will I go to the school dance with and later in life, my senior prom? Will anyone ask me? Will I go to college, or maybe better said, get into the college of my choice? What will I do for a living? Will I marry? If I do, what will my child’s name be? Whatever the questions you are asking, note that you ARE asking, there is no doubt. Yet, who are you asking answers from?
You are growing up in an age when the world is changing. Changing like most of us, who are just even slightly older, have never seen before – from major upheavals in the economy, to new technology and the media, growing power struggles within our government and those countries controlled by tyrants, the earth’s changes, food options, music, religion and more. You have choices that were incomprehensible even just a decade ago.
Yet every once in a while, you need to remember to do yourself a favor – pause. Just pause, and reflect. Look around you, and find something to do for someone other than yourself, or for someone other than that whom you are accustomed to doing things for. Open a door for an elderly woman, give-up your seat on the bus for the man struggling to stand, call a friend who you know needs someone to talk to. And most importantly, take a deep breath, and for a moment just acknowledge and be grateful for all that you have – your friends, boyfriend, family, health, school, the food you have to eat, the roof over your head, the shirt on your back, and other seemingly minute details that we, as humans, take for granted. Because there is so much, which you probably don’t even realize, that you should be thankful for. So take notice of what you have, and reflect. Because as the east coast earthquake came and went in a matter of seconds, so can these things that which we so often take for granted. So, pause, look to the sky, and whisper “thank you.”