What Makes Life Worth Living

This Thanksgiving week, we’ve focused much of our social media on “giving thanks” and the power of developing an attitude of gratitude. But I also wanted to share some news about our partnership with the Cleveland Play House and their #BeBrilliant campaign.
 
Courage to Caregivers is honored to be a Cleveland Play House community partner for their current show, Every Brilliant Thing, which deals with mental illness, depression, and suicide in a way that makes us all appreciate what makes life worth living. And for their #BeBrilliant Campaign, I was nominated to list my top 3 things that make life worth living. You can check out my video here.
 
First, I believe you meet every person in life for a reason … and we may not know right away WHY we meet … in fact, we may never know why we were meant to meet. Our interconnectedness makes us stronger. I have people I need … and I know there are people who need ME … that’s definitely something that makes life worth living.
 
Second, I also believe that our lives have purpose or meaning – and in spending much of life searching for my WHY … my purpose … I have come to realize that I’m not finished YET. The power of YET – growth mindset – is essentially knowing I still have much to learn!
 
The third thing … emotions and feelings. It seems so simple and yet life is hard and complicated and messy and sometimes just seems really unfair … yet, you can’t have easy without hard or complicated … and you can’t have joy or happiness without sadness … and you can’t know beauty without darkness … you can’t have kindness without meanness … you can’t have courage without fear … and you can’t know love without understanding hate.
 
So what do you and I do with all that? For me, mental wellness means making a choice – sometimes it’s a hard choice – to choose optimism. In fact, maybe that’s my third thing that makes life worth living – to see the hope in all things. Including the hope in me and you. We’re interconnected after all … right?
 
If you want to explore more ideas about what makes life worth living, be sure to check out Every Brilliant Thing at the Cleveland Play House.
 
If there is anything life has taught me, it’s that tomorrow isn’t guaranteed, and I’m thankful for each new day. As you consider everything that you’re thankful for this week, take some time to think about what makes life worth living for you, and feel free to share with me via email – I’d love to hear from you this week!