The 56th Mile of Life

      Have you ever seen the Northern lights? You can imagine we don’t see them often here in North Carolina, but it will do just fine for this analogy. I will set the scene, describe the feeling, and touch your emotions; after, I will explain and bring the conviction together. I hope you understand the meaning. 

      It’s 3 am in Alaska; the air is cold but feels like fresh winter glacier air. You breathe it in, and your lungs expand, filling you up and letting you feel your existence. You let the breath out, and your shoulders relax; your mind is clear. The time has come; your travels have finally reached the moment of seeing something you have never seen before. You unzip your sleeping bag, stick your feet out, and put your boots on and the rest of your gear. You unzip the tent, and for the first time, you are greeted with darkness but a haze of misting light. The cold has gently touched your face; it is silent, and the only sound you can hear is your heart beating and the stillness of the fallen snow, like the very sky of heaven lying across the ground. 

      The soft silence of peace and being alone is encompassing. You take your first step out of the tent, and your body stills from the beauty and impact around you. It is quiet but also glistening. You can take it all in daylight, but it turns magical under the cover of night. The trees are like big shadows; your valley is just a blanket. And for that moment, you look up and see the most beautiful piece of art in your life. 

      Wild streams of flowing color dance in the sky: greens, yellow, and purplish blue, flowing, changing, and lighting up the open like the true guiding beacon. They are soft yet gentle, flowing like waves; they bend and temperate. They are an anomaly. The lights are so unusual, so breathtaking, nothing could compete with them. It’s a rarity in a world so focused on face value. But in this moment, you are witnessing the true essence of the earth and how even the earth can stop, change, and show its true beauty even in darkness. 

      You stay for a while and don’t take a picture because right then, you know you will never be the same, so you stay in the moment, taking everything you can from what you see—all of it. In your being, you feel peace, you release, and for the first time in a long time, it is just you, the lights, and nature. 

      We live in a world where face value is considered more important than the soul within. But I will tell you, my friends, don’t buy into the human perception of greed, for you will miss the true meaning of life. The northern lights are an excellent example of challenging human perception, for the mind is unfathomable. You can’t understand it till you see it. 

      It simply should not exist but does, for it changes when the law of time says it shouldn’t, for it takes pressure and change to produce such beauty and silence to endure it. It is a prime example of existing but not existing—a wild but spirited effect. 

      As people, we work our whole lives to start a family, find a career, settle down, and do what society tells us to do. The work and grind cycle is a constant hamster wheel. We feel more like a machine than a person. But what if I challenged that perspective and said this: “Your success in life is not determined by the money you make, the things you have, and the ego you maintain, but your success is rewarded at the end of this life with the memories you take with you, the love you gave and received, the hardships you overcome, and the joy you bring into this world.” 

      It doesn’t mean you have done anything wrong but have forgotten that you came into this world with nothing and will leave it with all you have collected in your being. So remember, it’s OK to change, it’s OK to be different, it is OK to feel emotions, it is OK to be who you are as a person (long as you are not hurting people intentionally), it is perfectly fine to change your mind, and if you didn’t do something you wanted to experience you can still do it at 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90 years old. There is no rule book on life and a set path. It is like a swift and changing river, constantly getting rocks and debris in the way. The decision is what kind of path you want to take with yourself to get to your success, and are you letting life teach and guide you? 

Always, 

-56