Define Survival

To my son Tommy,

The other day I saw a status update...

"Plan for today: Wake Up, Survive, Go Back To Bed.  Plan for tomorrow roughly the same"

 I chuckled as I thought of the truth of this statement.  Though this tends to give you a bleak view of life and suggest the person is going through some rough times, it is actually true no matter where you are in your life.  Whether you are happy or sad, enjoying life or dreading it, rich or poor, you wake up and survive and off to bed to start the circle yet again.  The alternatives to this plan are too dreadful for me to ponder.

Here in this simple plan, you see gifts a plenty.  You woke up!  You are alive! Every morning is a gift of a new day though, to tell the truth, I often have trouble seeing this as a gift on a Monday.  Survive!  Well at least you have a goal! We will go into further detail on that later.  Then at the end of your plan comes the sweet release of bedtime!  It means you made it one more day!  You somewhere found the strength and gotten through it all.  Now you can head off to la-la land where you can be the ruler of your kingdom and slide down a rainbow to land in the pot of gold.  Ahh, sweet slumber!

Simple and eloquent plan, depending on your definition of survival.   I look for my "survival" and hope to thrive while living.  Getting through the day alive is a lofty goal but there has to be more.  For me survival goes deeper into the spiritual realm and emotional realm and even the intellectual realm.  It goes into meaning and striving and thriving.  It all depends on what you add into the task of "survive"

Most people have added going to work into their list of things to do to survive.  I have that on my list though lately I have modified the task to include going into work and doing the best job I can with the best attitude.  I have also added daily prayer and daily conversation with Jesus and God.  My spiritual survival needs to be maintained constantly more so than others.  I have also added hugging you and your mother to my daily survival list.  I need the emotional support and love of my family to survive the day.  I have added tons to my "survive" list and though it sort of defeats the minimalist purpose of the basic plan, it sure makes surviving so much better.  It reminds me of some people's ideas of camping.  Some have a basic tent and a small fire, while other see camping as a stay at the Hilton in the Poconos.

So when someone asks you what your plan is for today, you can tell them: Wake Up, Survive, Go Back To Bed! but you can do it with a wink and a grin because you and I know that our definition of survive transcends the bare minimum.

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo