I’m On My Third Life
How we limit our experiences by the entirety of our lifespan
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I’ve never believed in life after death.
Or reincarnation for that matter.
Yet, I’m here to tell you I’m on my second, (well) maybe third life.
I have the same face, name and being. But everything, and I mean everything, has changed.
And no, this isn’t some confusing, uber spiritual rhetoric. I’m not talking rebirth or rebaptism. This is for anyone who feels stuck. Debilitatingly stuck.
It’s okay to start over.
Now before diving in, it’s important to acknowledge the privilege it takes to start over.
It’s not easy.
A single mother in an abusive relationship, a trans teen in a religious home, a student with buckling debt — these people would love to escape their realities and create new, thriving ones, but feel trapped.
So, as I speak from a perspective of having had an out — a single, narrow opportunity to terminate an old life and begin an entirely new one — I think about people who can’t. And at the end I want to offer some advice.
Because sometimes all you need is one person to believe your story.
Truthfully, some people go their whole lives thinking they only have one shot of getting things right. That if they go through a divorce, move to a new country, change careers, etc. that the logistics have to be perfect.
That if they mess up, their lives are over.
So, what if it is?
If you think your life is over, celebrate.
It’s interesting how we limit our experiences by the entirety of our lifespan instead of by the number of chances we get to start over.
“Your life isn’t over!” is something we parrot to our friends who have life interruptions. From minor inconveniences to really big, heart-breaking ones, like the death of a loved one.
We say, “Your life isn’t over!” But, what if it is? And what if that is a good thing?
