Do Not Go Gently.

If this reaches you, you're a friend indeed, and you're on my mind. I'll try and be brief, but I make no promises, and if you know me very well, you know succinct messages are not my strongest suit.

Life is an open ended statement, at your disposal exists a vast spectrum of emotions and perceptions. In the fulminant darkness - call it depression, a funk, a slump - it's easy to lie dormant and defeated. Vigor abandons when you need it most.

And yet I propose that you burn. Nothing dissipates the fog of suffering faster than intensity for living with which we have all been endowed.

When life kicks you in the teeth, wipe the blood from your mouth and grab your footing. And go.

When you hit a wall, take it as a reminder that you should mobilize upward whenever the option presents, instead of lateral. And if the option does not present, look harder. There is always a way out, and you're always tasked with being the pathfinder.

Your battles are yours to fight, and on your own steam you can win. I will always be here to go in with you, when that time comes. My true friends are few, but they are true friends because I know that if I falter and don't recover, if I am one day penniless and smelling terrible, my friends won't stray.

The truth is there are only relative truths, and those truths are attenuated for the moment. What may have been a truth two years ago may be a malevolent falsehood now. Be a student to the game of life, and exceed expectations. Your perceived ceiling is eggshell-thin. Erupt through it and move up a floor. You're never quite done, the effort is innate. Within us all is a latent wellspring of effort and purpose which never runs dry until we've sold ourselves on the lie that it has. 

Nothing is ever over, no, not until you condemn it as such. And even then, make damn sure you can't resuscitate it. If you love it, breathe life into it. If you resolve to leave it, it had better be for something bigger and better.

The truth (relative) is that nothing is ever as daunting as it seems. The marathon in total is imposing, but the process is always one foot before the other. The courage takes place in the first step, the rest is simply maintaining artfully, going forward. Sometimes you're just falling forward to keep it going, and usually that's enough.

Don't reside with dogma. Nothing in life can be nailed down in place forever. The truth is fleeting and in its pursuit a fleet foot is required. If you're content with dogma then you're content with walking among the living dead. You're smarter than that.

Do not go gently. Live with every amount of intensity and livelihood ever afforded to you. Vibrancy is at your disposal until it isn't any more. You can run until you can't, so run while you can. One day you won't be able to. And please do run; some of life's most poignant truths I discovered in running. Running is an accurate portrayal of life itself, with hardship and challenge ever-present, the devil perched atop your shoulder whispering "You've done enough. You can quit now."

Don't fear the job you're offered. Take it and surprise yourself.

If you can travel the world, you probably should. Self discovery awaits. You're going to fall in love with the person you truly are, the self which has gone unrecognized to date.

And for fuck's sake, if you can go see Bassnectar live on New Year's Eve, I don't see a worldly reason good enough for not going. When you're enveloped in the sound, being crushed to death under low frequency pistons, it will all make sense.

Tear down the house and build it anew. One day you will stand before it and realize the wisdom of the endeavor.

Heroics are rooted in the mundane especially. The e-mails, the spreadsheets, the dishes to be washed - they beg to be completed, and completed artfully. Everything in life is an opportunity to express yourself, and artfully so.

Tear yourself down when the murk, the fog, descends upon you. You will outlast the fog. Emerge from the other side on fire with purpose. You are capable, and then beyond the recognized capability, you're more capable.

I've found life in the rare moments where I pushed myself beyond what I thought was possible. I've found life in letting people in, no matter how few they are. I've found life in letting myself hurt, and not trying to evade it. Pain is a master, and a teacher long tenured, establishing office since the beginning of time.

Do not go gently. The most primitive and intimate confession is that we will all die someday. Until that day comes, challenge yourself every day. Your heart never thinks to stop beating, it's not in its nature to do so, and so why should you think to stop giving your best effort? It is a farce to the heart to live meekly.

Until next time.