I’m not religious. I don’t know if there’s a heaven. Maybe there is.

Maybe the streets are paved with gold. 

Maybe there are people who feed you French vanilla ice cream while you relax on a yacht with your toes out.

Maybe there are golden retrievers frolicking through daisy-covered fields.

But what if there isn’t? What if this is it? What if this, the laughter, the heartbreak, the rainstorms, and the sunsets, is all we get?

Here’s what I know. I’m not leaving this Earth with regrets. I’m chasing every dream I have, no matter how ridiculous it sounds.

I’ll fail a thousand times. 

I’ll start projects that scare me and have no guarantee of success.

I’ll pitch the idea that bombs. 

I’ll move across the world to a place where nobody knows my name.

I’ll say yes before I’m ready, and jump long before I can see where I’ll land. 

I’ll risk rejection, embarrassment, and looking stupid.

I’ll take the chance on the thing that might not work, because what if it does?

And when it doesn’t, when the plan falls apart, when the door closes, I’ll still be proud that I tried. Because trying means I was alive.

So I’ll take the risk, fall flat on my face, and keep going anyway, because that’s how you make the most of the one shot you get at this thing called life.

I don’t know what comes after this.

But I’ll know I lived.