Demand More!

...for tomorrow we may die.

Today, someone I was close to died. They were 19 years old, and I suddenly felt that there was nothing else to share with the Hub Pages community than the urgency that comes with death: don't take it forgranted, and demand more now.

It is true: life is short, and I mean that with every ounce of cliche drama that is associated with that phrase. The reality is that many of us settle for life as it is now thinking that the future will be better, brighter, easier, etc. But what if there was no future? Would that make your time in the present wasted and meaningless?

No! Well, at least not if you make small changes now to improve the quality of your life and not put off happiness for tomorrow. Demand more from your present life, your present situation, and your present self. Make each minute count, and regret nothing. Here are a few places to start:

* Find your true calling - if you want to be an artist, a tuba player, a doctor, a botanist, or a circus clown, stop dreaming about it and do it. Wasted potential and desire is one of life's greatest tragedies.

* Tell the people you love that you love them, and tell them often - I hate to have to remind everyone, including myself, but this is something none of us do enough of. Don't assume they know: say it! And leave yourself open to someone saying it to you.

* Take care of your body - go on a diet, get out and walk, go for a doctor's check up. Every one of us uses and abuses our bodies daily with the thought that we will wake up tomorrow and everything will work fine just because it is supposed to, but health takes effort. Demand it of yourself!

* Take care of the way you see yourself - talk nicely to yourself, because you are the only one who is listening. It is easy to think to ourselves that we are stupid, fat, ugly, not good enough, a loser, or not worthy. But if we talk that way to ourselves, how do we expect others to talk to us and treat us? Demand more of yourself and the way you treat yourself!

* Don't settle for less - this suggestion comes on so many levels, whether it is with your work, your spouse, your lover, or your car mechanic, don't settle for less than you deserve (which is a lot!). Don't stay at a job that makes you miserable, don't stay with a partner that doesn't respect or appreciate you. Demand not to be taken advantage of.

* Free yourself financially - Carrying a financial burden is just as hard as carrying extra weight or secrets, and just as damaging. Free yourself from debt, clear your financial slate, and releave yourself of the weight. Demand freedom from the chains of debt!

* Try to smile at least once every day, no matter what! This is self-explainitory, but do it!

Most importantly, be grateful for every minute you have. We never appreciate what we had until we don't have it anymore - don't be like that. Don't take your health forgranted. Don't take your family forgranted. Don't take your lover forgranted. Don't take yourself forgranted.

Each day is a gift, each day is a blessing. And it makes me so sad that it takes someone dying for me to put this message out into the world.