This week I went to the House of Blues to see Chimaira and Trivium. Trivium flies under my radar as having put out two of my favorite CDs of all time. It was a pleasure to finally see them live, and ultimately had a blast at the show. But the reason for this post is the lyric that I have quoted above. The lyric is from the song, 'Into the Mouth of Hell we March.' A charming little number on their album, Shogun. So here's my short, inspiration piece on the topic.
Coaches often tell their players to 'leave everything on the field.' That means to risk life and limb, scratching, clawing, and grasping at every inch possible during the game, leaving your body deteriorated and your mind exhausted, in hopes that even if you lose, you will not only be satisfied with your effort, but you will be able to walk off the field, or court, or ice, whatever, and get back to living. If there was nothing more you could have done, then what is there to feel bad about? You won't have anything rattling around in your head. You won't be kept up at night with nightmares about missed opportunities or mental breakdowns. You will have either won the contest because you and your team was better, or you will have lost the contest because you and your team wasn't better. Either way, you should be proud of your effort and accept the result.
Another cliche is calling this thing we live 'the game of life.' And I don't think life is a game. I don't think there's anything to 'figure out.' There's no right way to live. There are no answers. No cheat codes. No level skipping. But while life is not a game, life CAN be compared to a game in the same way I described above. And this is a pretty common idea of 'living life to the fullest' and all that junk. But I'm going beyond living life to the fullest. You can live a full life without ever 'leaving it all on the field.' And that's the motivation I have. In the same way that I walk away from a workout feeling completely exhausted, like I couldn't run an extra tenth of a mile, or I couldn't do one more set of lifts, or round of crunches, that's the same feeling I want when I'm nearing my end.
Obviously, there are times in your daily life that 'pouring' all of yourself into this life isn't logical or possible, so don't just try to poke holes in my logic. I understand that this is a blanket statement that doesn't always apply. But I see this in a slightly different light. This doesn't mean you need to give 100% of your effort into everything you do. But when it comes down to it, you need to sacrifice a part of yourself. Break off a little chunk. A quote I have referenced before says 'the only gift is a portion of thyself.' And maybe that's my point. At the end of your time here, when you look back, what did you leave for the rest of the world? How soon will you be forgotten? This digital inner monologue gone public is one of my attempts to create something that will live forever. But when it's all said and done, I want to be able to say that there are little pieces of me scattered throughout the world. And even though I might not be around, people, places and events in time will continue to carry who I am, what I believed in, and what I influenced.
So leave it all on the field. You won't only walk away with a clear mind, but you'll leave the field a better, more inspired place for others to tread.
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