Airway, breathing, circulation. Pulse rate, respirations, body temp, blood pressure, pupil reaction, brain waves, response to stimuli. All things that measure how clinically alive you are. Clinically alive. That sounds very cold, don’t you think? What about alive, alive. You know… in your feels alive. The thrill, the laughs, the love, the pain, the growth, the fear, the unknown. How are you living?

How do you measure your signs of life?

What’s your baseline? Is it the living room floor full of toys? That red crayon mural on the wall? What about the wine in a milk cup? I love it all. You’re alive and you’re living. Do you suffer from shortness of breath while hiking to a view that will also be taking your breath away? GOOD. Love to see it. Speaking of seeing, did you know the University of Chicago did a study that revealed pupil dilation when looking at someone you love? Sounds equal and reactive to me. It’s science, its feelings, it’s… signs of life.

The bruises, the tears, the belly laughs, the nerves, the grief. It all means you have something keeping you going outside of just your body. There may be times you feel like you don’t have those external motivators to keep you going. Been there. It’s hard. It’s dark. It’s also a sign of life and wanting more from it. Sometimes it takes licensed professionals and pharmaceuticals to get through it. That’s okay. There may be some people that can’t, don’t, or won’t get to the space of accepting these resources for whatever reason; which is tragic and unfortunate but also a very misunderstood sign of life.

Life is So. Freaking. Weird.

There’s so much of it, and it’s not the same for any of us, but in the end we are all measured on the same scale. Confined to a few words on an epitaph (maybe, if that’s what you’re into). So what are your signs of life?

What makes you feel alive?