“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly
and without fear for a newer and richer experience.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
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From time to time, there are stories posted on social media that catch my attention. At one time, “Awesome Quotes and Notes” shared this analogy (which I tried to modify) about living. Read and ponder…
You are having your morning coffee. You’re holding the cup when someone out of nowhere bumps into you or shakes your arm, thus making you spill your coffee everywhere.
A friend, who just came from the comfort room, wondered why you spilled the coffee. You replied, “Because someone bumped into me.”
That’s the wrong answer. Actually, you slipped the coffee because there was coffee in your cup. Had there been tea in the cup, you would have spilled tea. Or had it been tsokolate, you would have spilled tsokolate.
It means that whatever is inside the cup is what will spill out. Therefore, when life comes along and bumps or shakes you (which will happen), whatever is inside you will come out. It’s easy to fake it, until you get rattled.
Now, you have to ask yourself, “What’s in my cup?” When life gets rough, what spills over. Is it joy, gratitude, peace, and humility? Or is it anger, bitterness, victim mentality and quitting tendencies?
Life provides the cup; you choose what you fill with it.
This brings us to the most popular saying, “Life is what we make it.” It simply means you are in control of how you would respond to what comes your way. Our life goes up and down. There is happiness and there is sadness. There are triumphs and there are failures.
You are not in control of what will happen to you. So, what will be your response to all these? How will you deal with all these challenges? Will you face them or just let them happen to you?
Life is not fair. Buddha purposefully lived a life of poverty and suffering. Jesus, the son of a carpenter, was betrayed and crucified. Malala Yousafzai, 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was shot in the face. Maya Angelou, American memoirist and poet, was raped as a young girl.
Stevie Wonder, an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer, was blind from infancy. Helen Keller, an American author and educator, was not only blind but also deaf. Jack Nicklaus suffered from a mild case of polio at a younger age but was able to get through it without too many problems.
Tiger Woods and Bruce Willis had stuttering problems during childhood. Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe was an illegitimate child.
And yet, all these people have become famous. They are true examples of how life is what you make it – regardless of your background, status in life, and education.
American First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt once commented, “Life is what you make it. Always has been, always will be.”
Marilyn Monroe also stated, “This life is what you make it. No matter what, you’re going to mess up sometimes, it’s a universal truth. But the good part is you get to decide how you’re going to mess it up.”
“Life is 10 percent what you make it, and 90 percent how you take it,” said Irving Berlin, the man who wrote “Heaven Watch the Philippines” in 1947. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Walter Cronkie, a broadcast journalist, said the singer and composer “helped write the story of this country (United States), capturing the best of who we are and the dreams that shape our lives.”
Ashton Kutcher, a famous American actor and producer who once married Demi Moore, has stated, “Don’t settle for what life gives you; make life better and build something.” Beyond entertainment, he is also a venture capitalist. He is a co-founder of the venture capital firm A-Grade Investments.
Today’s generation may never hear of Mae West. She was an American actress, singer, comedian, screenwriter, and playwright whose career spanned over seven decades. She was one of the most controversial movie stars of her day; she encountered problems especially with censorship. She said, “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”
Who doesn’t know of J.K. Rowling, a British author and philanthropist. She was the woman who created Harry Potter, a seven-volume fantasy series published from 1997 to 2007. More than 600 million copies were sold from the series which has been translated into 84 languages and spawned a global media franchise including films and video games.
Before Harry Potter, her life was tumultuous: death of her mother, birth of her first child, divorce from her first husband, and jobless and penniless while living in a cramped apartment. She even considered suicide to end everything.
“It is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have a life at all – in which case, you fail by default,” Rowling said.
Finally, here’s another thought from Eleanor Roosevelt: “In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”
