You Only Get One Life. What Will You Do With It?

You only get one life. What would you like to do with it?

Picture yourself at a table, pen in hand, a blank page in front of you. At the top, that question stares back:

What will you write?

It’s so easy to stumble through the days - caught in the grind, reacting instead of creating - rather than purposefully scripting where you want to go, who you want to be, and what you want to leave behind.

But seriously - pen in hand - what would you write? Would you push limits, break through barriers, and chase the life you’ve always imagined? Or would you choose comfort, soaking in peace and simplicity?

How much of your wish list is shaped by the life you’ve already lived - the first half of your story - versus the part still unwritten?

For me, my life has been both unintentional and intentional. Without realizing it, I’ve broken cycles that stretched back generations, while repeating others passed down through words, habits, and the quiet influence of family.

My mother was a stressed, workaholic woman who longed for peace and sought it through faith. My father tried to be strong, right, and accepted - longing for love. Their choices became my foundation. Their legacy pulses through me.

I remember my mom’s relentless commitment to work. She put it above everything - above my dad, above me. My dad, in contrast, gave me experiences: fishing trips, camping, making donuts, going to the movies. He taught me that memories matter.

And yet, I became a workaholic too. One of my hardest memories is sitting at my daughter’s basketball tournament - husband beside me, ex-husband behind me - while I answered emails and Teams messages. Stress exploding out of my chest, guilt gnawing at me for leaving work early, I watched my phone instead of my daughter.

In that moment, I realized: I was living the cycle. Passing the torch.

Still, I’ve tried to pass on something different. To my other daughter, I’ve given experiences - because I know their power. Not every moment was perfect, but my eldest treasures those memories more than anything else.

We are, whether we realize it or not, continuations of our parents. Replicas of generations before us. Some patterns we break. Others we carry forward. That’s the truth.

What matters most is noticing the writing on the page - whether it’s yours or someone else’s. Because you are responsible for what comes next.

Are you evolving? Repeating? Standing still?

Are you living the life you want - or just the one handed to you?

If not, start now. There is no better time than the present.