8/13/11

Get Busy Living

busyliving

The recent death of a woman competing in the NYC Triathlon (read – Coping With A Swimmers Sudden Death) has been weighing heavy on my mind. Not because she died doing something she loved – clearly she did from the article – but because of the reaction to it. I started reading a lot of people saying stuff like “Well, maybe I shouldn’t do this (triathlon) because it’s dangerous”, “I’m really scared now of the swim, I didn’t realize that it could kill you.”, “I was fine until I read about this, perhaps I should pull out of the race.” and more with a similar theme.

 

Really? So let’s take that logic and carry it further/apply it to other things in our lives:

  • According to the CDC, 1400 people out of 100,000 die each year in a car accident. You have a 1.4% chance of dying on your way to doing whatever you are doing. Should you stop driving or stop going to work – it’s dangerous.
  • People have been know to have a heart attack & die after chex – should you consider abstinence since you could possibly die?
  • Although the stats on air/water/space travel deaths is lower – only about 100 out of 100,000 die each year using other forms of transport – should you forgo that bucket list of traveling to those dream spots because, well, you just might be that one person that crashes & burns?

I say NO! We know not the day or the time when God will call us home, so it comes down to a simple choice – Get busy living, or get busy dying.

I CHOSE TO LIVE – LIVE OUTLOUD – LIVE NOW!

 

If you aren’t going to apply the principle that because I might have a heart attack, I might crash & burn, I might die so I shouldn’t do it to everything in your life – then why are you applying it to completing that goal you set for yourself – Triathlon (or any other noteworthy accomplishment)? Don’t let that little voice – the negative, the doubtful, the fearful keep you on the sidelines. You will REGRET it and then possibly, even worse, you might just succumb to the woe is me syndrome and become one of those people that always chimes in with the negative, trying to steal another’s hopes & dreams nonsense. A Negative Nelly Misery Likes Company Person that NOBODY of any salt would want to be around.

 

Get busy living, or get busy dying.

 

I’m often afraid. I have doubt all the time. I chose to beat those thoughts back.

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. ~Ambrose Redmoon

Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared. ~Edward Vernon Rickenbacker

My heart breaks that 2 people died during the NYC Triathlon swim portion of the race. I find solace in the fact that they were doing what they wanted to do, enjoying the moment and were living life. So, I keep swimming, I keep biking, I keep running, I keep cooking, traveling, building, achieving, learning, trying new things…

 

I’m getting busy LIVING…how about you?

5 comments:

  1. CDC could be trusted with data such as this, however, there are many more people who get non-fatal injuries in car accidents.

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  2. In those non-fatal accidents, a health insurance could come in handy.

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  3. When it comes to traveling, you should seriously consider health insurance, especially when you're the type who jumps around everywhere.

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  4. Get busy living and you'll achieve more; that's simple economics.

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  5. Well, yes and no, car accident lawyer, that is if you're talking about money-making as "living".Truth is, basic economics will lead you to factors more than time spent working and money earned per hour: that is, elements a & b. When you introduce health problems- stress, fever, etc, and others that affect productivity, then these might even lead to less money earned than working on normal hours.

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