I recently came across a poem by James McCrae called Instructions Before Visiting Earth. It went viral after he shared it online. It's now been read, watched and shared more than 100 million times, translated into several languages and even performed at funerals and in churches. 

It imagines that, before we came to Earth, our souls were given a set of instructions. We were warned that being human would be intense, confusing and sometimes incredibly painful. That we would become distracted, forget who we really were and occasionally feel completely lost. But we were also reminded that this life is temporary, that nothing here truly belongs to us and that our job is simply to make the most of the experience while we are here.

I know that might sound a bit spiritual for some people, but the poem really hit something in me. Perhaps because life has felt so uncertain recently. Or perhaps because the older I get, the more I find myself thinking about why we are actually here.

We spend so much of our lives acting as though this is all going to last forever. We worry about what people think of us, obsess over things that probably won’t matter in a year and put off doing what we really want because the timing isn’t quite right. We chase money, success, approval and some imaginary point in the future when we will finally feel as though we have done enough.

But what if this life was never meant to be something we completed perfectly?What if we are simply here to experience it?

To love people. To lose people. To laugh until we can’t breathe. To get things spectacularly wrong, learn something from them and try again. To feel joy, grief, hope, fear and everything in between. To have our hearts broken and somehow remain brave enough to keep them open.

One of the most powerful ideas in the poem is that “nothing is owned, only borrowed”. Our homes, our bodies, our money and even the people we love are only ours for a while. That sounds sad, and I suppose it is. But I also think there is something incredibly freeing about it.

If everything is temporary, perhaps we can stop gripping it all quite so tightly. We can enjoy what we have without constantly fearing its loss. We can be more present with the people we love instead of being physically beside them while mentally working through tomorrow’s to-do list. We can stop waiting for life to become easier, quieter or more certain before we allow ourselves to live it.

Because none of us knows how long we have here. We behave as though there will always be another summer, another Christmas or another chance to say what we really mean. But time passes quietly while we are busy sorting out emails, worrying about things outside our control and convincing ourselves that the important stuff can wait.

The poem also says that we should try to “be a good guest” while we are here. I love the simplicity of that. Perhaps our higher purpose doesn’t need to be some enormous, world-changing mission. Perhaps it is simply to leave people and places a little better than we found them. To listen more than we speak. To give more than we take. To be kind when it would be easier not to be.

Maybe purpose isn’t only found in what we achieve. Maybe it's found in how we make people feel, the love we give and the small moments when we choose courage over fear.

And maybe the point isn’t to protect ourselves from every possible hurt. It’s tempting to build walls around a soft heart, especially when life has already given it a bit of a battering. But a perfectly protected heart cannot experience much of anything. You cannot love deeply without accepting the possibility of loss. You cannot create a meaningful life without risking failure, rejection or disappointment.

There's no version of being human where we make it through untouched. So perhaps we should stop trying. Perhaps the aim is to arrive at the end with a heart that has been used properly. With a few battle scars, a collection of ridiculous memories and some really good stories to tell. To know that we showed up for our lives instead of watching them from a safe distance.

I don’t know exactly what I believe about why we are here or what happens afterwards. None of us can know for certain. But I do believe there is something bigger than the routines, worries and distractions that consume so much of our attention.

I believe we are here to love. To learn. To connect. To help each other find our way when life becomes frightening or dark. To remember that underneath all the roles, achievements and carefully constructed identities, we are human beings trying to make sense of this strange and beautiful experience together.

So hold the people you love close, but not so tightly that fear prevents you from enjoying them. Use the things you have, but don’t mistake them for who you are. Say what you need to say. Take the risk. Book the trip. Make the phone call. Forgive where you can and let go when you must.

None of us are getting out of here alive anyway. So we might as well make sure we truly live while we're here. 🩷