Dominor Vita – Dominate Life. The saying isn’t just about dominating life; it’s the description of a person who actively dominates life. And yes, I own the domain.
In the cartoons, one of my favorite scenes was watching when a character tried to slow down after sprinting at full speed. You’d see their feet slide and hear the sound of tires screeching. On more than one occasion as a child, mind you, I attempted to do the same and was sadly disappointed when I stopped without a tire screech, let alone a sliding stop. In some ways, I feel as if things in life have brought me to a point where I am once again attempting to screech to a halt.
When I was 15, my biggest fear was being discovered that I was not a ‘real’ college student at The Ohio State University. Yes, I took full-time classes at that age. However, part of me simply didn’t feel like I fit in as a ‘college student’. No matter where I went, from the classroom to the bar (I bought my first drink at a bar at the age of 17 – BW3’s) I simply didn’t feel like a ‘normal’ student. By the time 19 rolled around, I felt ready to ‘move on’ to the next stage of life.
Now, I’m realizing how much of my life I’ve failed to enjoy because I was simply looking forward to the next leg of it. Believe it or not, this is a terrific thing to realize as a 24 year-old. It’s bittersweet, though, because there are a great many situations I wish I had capitalized on more. Perhaps I could have been to more football games, played sports at a younger age, stripped for more sorority houses (Oh, college…) or spent more time with my father in hospice.
Looking back doesn’t bring regrets. However, it does bring enrichment to the fact that we, moving forward, can take more opportunities to soak up life and enjoy every shred of it.
While I’m hearing about family members having children and realizing it’s only a matter of time before I’m an uncle, I can’t help but really enjoy the fact that life is the way it is at this moment. The opportunities are endless and I feel quite capable of taking them on.
Dominor Vita.
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