What Do You Wake Up For?

Here’s the big truth of life: It’s not like the movies. We rarely get happy endings, and things will hurt us a lot more than they will make us happy. Whatever does make us happy, will end up hurting us even more in the end. 

There will be days where you will feel sad and you can’t pinpoint why, exactly. There will be days where you will cry your eyes out. There will be days where you’ll catch yourself staring blankly off into space because you don’t know what it is, exactly, you’re doing with your life. There will be days that nothing will go right, and everything that could have gone wrong already happened in a blink of an eye. There will be days where you might find yourself wishing that you could just stay within the comforts of your bed and never wake up. 

Why do we even wake up every morning, when out of the 365 days that a year gives us, more than 300 of them are spent wishing we could just sleep longer, to get more rest, to heal a broken heart, to silence destructive thoughts?

We have to stop watching life like a movie reel playing in an endless cycle of love and loss. Sometimes we have to cut that movie reel into pieces and view life like that: In bits and pieces of memories that by themselves seem incredibly tiny and insignificant, but are actually the really big, important memories we should be holding on to. Then we should stick those pieces into this great, big picture that’s worth a thousand words, a girly scrap-book-like thing that we go back to. Because if we keep re-watching the entire thing from start to end, we’re re-living the pain, too, and that’s what makes people give up, what makes people not want to wake up and just sleep – forever. One tiny little thing and boom, your thoughts go cycling down the movie reel until everything resurfaces back again in this doomed cycle. 

Life is this big, gigantic picture of captured moments, and if we choose to see things that way, it’s one of the ways we can pick ourselves back up after something devastating has happened. If we view everything as this chronological happy-to-sad, it will always hurt twice as much; but if you see things in pieces, they’ll seem sweet, though sometimes bittersweet. And that’s how we pick up the pieces of ourselves. Slowly, one at a time, with thoughts of waking up to a more beautiful picture once this particularly sad movie reel is over. 

The one big reason you should wake up is because you’ve got a pretty awesome picture. Your movie reels may be mostly filled with tragic endings, but learn to cut them into pieces and stick them on your bigger picture. The human memory, coupled with some time, will help you along. Keep waking up for a picture that’s worth a thousand stories. After all, pictures are taken by the survivors. Someday, you’ll see yourself in everyone else’s life pictures, and it will be beautiful. 

We always, always have something to wake up for. We wake up for all these others bits and pieces in our bigger life picture. We don’t have to wake up to the movie reel of sadness and hurt. It’s a choice we make. It’s not easy, but it’s a choice that changes lives, not just our own, but those around us as well.

Let’s face it, life can be pretty crappy. But the thing is, we can remind each other what we wake up for. Remind your friends about what they wake up for. Remind your family. Be kind to them, love them, and spend time with them before it’s too late.

People never deserve to feel like they’re alone, that no one loves them and cares for them. Some people may never ever show it, but they’re hurting inside, and you could be the one to make their day a bit better. Or yet, be the one to save a life.

So if you’re up for it, here’s a little challenge:

Give your parents a hug. Tell them you love them, and appreciate them (and explain why). Teach them how to fist bump so they can give you one, because they’re cool and you want them to know that. 

Kiss your siblings on the cheek, even if they make faces at you, and give them a hug. Squeeze them tight. Tell them they’re special and you wouldn’t exchange them for anything else in the world, even if they boss you around and can get on your nerves (because no one can get to you as much as they can – that only means they know you the best and can push all your buttons, so you should thank them for knowing you so well, too.)

Text or call or instant message your friends, and tell them they’re the best thing that has ever happened in your life, and you love them because they’re beautiful inside and out (yes, even the guy friends, because it’ll be fun to see them freak out, yeah?).

Then hug yourself. Just put your arms around yourself. And then I want you to read this out loud (yes, you too, men):

“You’re lovely. You’re beautiful. You’re amazing. And you’re more than good enough.”

Do all of those things above right now.

Because if you want the people around you to keep waking up, you have to give them something to wake up for. And then, you’ll see that they will be the reason you will wake up in the morning. You’ll fill up each other’s life pictures, and it will be this bad-ass collage of awesomeness.

Good morning.