Stop Surviving and Start Living Your Best Life

By Victoria (Tori) Martinez

There are seasons in our life when we stop enjoying life because we’re too busy surviving.

You wake up and just go through the motions, check off responsibilities, respond to messages, care for others, push through pain, and then collapse into bed at night wondering where the day went. You can barely make it through the week and spend the weekends recovering, just so you can do it all over again.

Trust me, that’s no way to live. It’s not healthy that somewhere along the way, without realizing it, survival became the norm. Not because you chose it, but because life required it.

For me survival looked like getting a new job every couple of years, because I was missing too much work and didn’t want to get fired. The days off added up so quickly from doctor appointments, ER visits, and days in bed from medication side effects. Maybe for you, survival feels like you’re losing yourself slowly, things feel distant, like the version of yourself you used to know has slowly faded into the background.

Seasons like this force us to stop asking the big questions.

Who do I love?

What do I believe?

What’s important to me?

Because life in survival mode has us asking how we’re going to get through the week or how do we find energy to last from lunch until it’s time to go home. As much as we try to convince ourselves we’re ok and we’re strong enough to push through, eventually something happens. Maybe it’s a quiet moment of realization. Maybe it’s exhaustion beyond explanation. Maybe it's an illness. Maybe it’s a conversation, a memory, or a book that lands in your hands at just the right time. And suddenly you realize something has to change.

Sometimes we can start with small things, small changes. But other times it might require a massive change. For me I had to stop working. Not an easy decision, but a requirement, a new limitation my body insisted on.

After you make those changes, slowly the fog lifts. It’s returning to yourself, remembering the parts of yourself that life pushed to the side. It’s a forgiveness toward yourself as you realize you did the best you could with what you knew and the resources you had at the time. And That’s okay.

If you’ve been feeling like you lost a piece of yourself, maybe you haven’t. Maybe you’re just at the point where survival is no longer enough and it's starting to loosen its grip. Maybe the next step is remembering. It's never too late to stop surviving and start the journey toward living your best life.

It's time to remember who you are and listen to that inner voice trying to awaken. This is a process; it can take time. Sometimes a good book can help. The right words at the right time can feel like someone turning on the light in a dark room.

So, if you’re in a season of rediscovery, of slowly finding your way back to yourself you might find comfort in poetry that speaks honestly about healing, identity and rising again. My collections, A Call to Awaken and Out of the Ashes, were written for moments like this, when life asks us to pause, reflect and remember who we are becoming.

Survival may have been necessary, but it is not the end of your story.

If you'd like to continue our conversation you can read my other blogs or watch my YouTube videos and start living your best life with chronic illness.

This blog post is copyrighted to the author; no part may be reproduced or used in anyway without the author's permission. The information shared here is based on personal experiences and is not intended to be medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Please consult a qualified healthcare provider for guidance tailored to your individual need.