"Good Morning" by Chris Runge

Okay, you. Wake up and listen. No, look me in the eyes. I need you to focus. This is important.

I’m not going to give It the respect of speaking that stupid name It goes by, but you know what I’m talking about: the trial that you never requested, the obstacle to your dreams and the challenge to your very life. 

I know It haunts your nightmares sometimes, or often, or always. I also know you - you’re tired, I’ve seen it when you think no one is looking, but admit it, you thrive with a competitor in the arena. You know the odds are stacked against you, and you are still willing to fight to the death for that 0.000000001% chance that you’ll win. So you pull out all the stops: teeth biting, nails scratching, legs kicking against the unseen foe. It stalks you in the dark, it wants to overpower you, but you will - you must - master it. 

Because It isn’t winning. It - or something, at least - will take your life - actually, all of ours - one day. But life isn’t about just “not dying” (at least, not this life). Life is about LIVING, and you’re doing the best job of that of anyone I’ve ever met. I see your struggle, I see your pain, I see your desire to quit fighting, but I also see that glimmer of hope. The go-big-or-go-home spirit. The champion you can become.

It told you that you wouldn’t survive this long - but here you are. It told you that you couldn’t do anything - but here you are, doing everything you can do to survive. Plus a million other things. Whether those things look like having a partner, a job, a podcast, an album on Spotify, your name in print, your name on the transplant list, another hospitalization behind you, a bad habit behind you, or another day alive and hope for tomorrow. You’re doing what It said you couldn’t. You’re LIVING. 

So whatever you face today, don’t let It win. It might get you with an uppercut to the jaw that makes you stumble backwards, but you know you’ll get the next knockout punch. It’ll fall to the ground and you will raise a fist to the sky, victorious. This is the attitude I want you to live with today, and every day. 

Go get It.

- me, to me in the mirror this morning