How are you living your dash?

Needing a little inspirational downtime, I grabbed an unread book off the bookshelf over the weekend. The book, One Month to Live: Thirty Days to a No Regrets Life by Kerry & Chris Shook, was a gift from a friend from a couple of years back.

The premise of it (duh) is how differently we'd all live our lives if we knew we had just 30 days left. And, if you read the entire book, it presents a 30-day challenge to readers on how to do just this (with the presumed added benefit that you don't actually kick it after those 30 days.)

I had limited time, so I've not jumped into the day-to-day challenge part of this book, but I read something in the first chapter that I love love love love. And it's so relevant to anyone frustrated by unemployment, a slow-moving job search, or, hell, life in general, that I must share...

Live the dash.

None of us gets to pick when we're born or when we'll die. We all have a birthdate, and we will all have a date of death. Could be 40 years from now, or 10, or, frankly? A week from tomorrow. We just don't know and, by and large, don't get to pick.

When it's all said and done, however, our birth year and date of death will be etched on some fancy headstone. Separated by only a dash.

The dash? That little line will represent all that went down in our entire life span. And how we live that dash?

Is entirely within our control.

Even when life feels out of our control? Even when if feels as though all of the crap cards are being dealt our way?

We always have an element of control over how our lives will unfold.

We always control how we live the dash.

So how are you living your dash? And how can you make the dash more fulfilling, happier, and more worthwhile?

Something to consider today.

Photo credit: carolyndavidsonhicks.com