Life & Therapy

On his album “Has Been” William Shatner has a lovely song about death called “You’ll Have Time.”  He manages to be simultaneously funny and poignant.  Repeatedly,  he states, “Live life like you’re gonna die….’cause you’re gonna.”  This brings to mind my friend Vinny, who I met when he was dying of cancer.  He was 35, and he told me that all of his life, he meant to throw himself into doing artwork, but always would say, “Later. After this…”  When he realized that he was really dying, he told me, “I wish that I had pursued art before getting a death sentence.  Still, I plan to do nothing but art from now until the end.”  That is exactly what he did- he created an inspiring amount of art in his last few months.  

So often, there are things that we want to do, but we put them off, thinking “Later. After this…”  Maybe we hope that an opportunity will fall into our laps.  These things do not have to be wild dreams, but can be little things.  Maybe we want to learn a new language, or take a bike trip.  Maybe there is something we wish we could say to someone.  We may have a lot of “Yeah, buts…” lined up in response to picturing ourselves doing it.  Some of these “yeah, buts” are weak arguments we come up with, because we are afraid: of trying something new, of failing, of looking foolish.  If we take the time to sort through these fears, we may find the strength to do something we dream of now, rather than waiting until it is our last chance.