An Authentic Life

My son was in Prague, Czech Republic yesterday - 4,573 airline miles from Minnesota and over 3,000 from his college home in Boston. This is his third trip to Europe in 18 months. He has been fortunate enough to have opportunities like this and equally adventurous enough to take advantage of them.

Travel of any kind requires three things: desire, planning, and resources. But so do many other calculated risks we may or may not take throughout life that get us out of our comfort zone. Desire has to trump fear. Planning has to overcome uncertainty. Resources have to be marshaled.

I'm not talking about grand plan Bucket Lists. This isn't a call to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, hike the Appalachian Trail, or - Gump-like - run from one American coast to the other. Sure, those sound like worthy and exciting endeavors, but for most people they simply aren't realistic.

Instead, I am referring to living an authentic life.

Living an authentic life includes:

- making peace with the past.

- actively maintaining friendships.

- being part of a family.

- smiling, even when we don't feel like it.

- finding a reason to laugh every day.

- consistently cultivating hobbies and interests.

- drinking in moderation.

- taking care of our own health.

- telling the people we love that we love them.
- showing the people we love that we love them.
- letting go of what we've lost.

- taking no one for granted, including ourselves.

- saying we are sorry and asking for forgiveness.

- getting out of our comfort zone, personally and professionally.

- taking calculated risks, regardless of the outcome.

- opening our hearts to one another.

- working towards attainable goals.

- having dreams, as long as we plan and work to achieve them.

I am no master of this list, not even close. In fact, I have a lot of work to do. But sitting higher up in the cheap seats with each passing year - gaining a perspective that has only come with time, tempests, and the occasional triumph - what is truly worthwhile in life has never been clearer.

This personal blog, which began with an eye roll almost three years and 142 entries ago, has given me immense pleasure, more than I honestly could have expected when it began. And, a little surprisingly, I have learned more about myself in the process. Unexpected, but welcome. And needed. Perhaps that understanding has culminated with this short list of ways to live a more authentic life - really more my own road map forward than any advice to offer others.

Which means this is also a good place for The Cheap Seats to end.

So, thank you to everyone who has been curious enough to read what I had to say on any given subject. Thank you to everyone who has offered comments and added to the conversation on everything from coffee to pop culture to politics to our shared past. I have been flattered and humbled by your kind words. And a final thank you to those people who had a direct hand in shaping and challenging my thoughts before they were ever put on "paper." Your objectivity (even in the face of a writer's pride), good judgment, and advice only improved my thoughts and words.

Now - I have a list to work on . . .