A Full Life Requires You to Leap

Those aches and pains should remind you that there is no time like the present to live out your dreams, take risks, and leap from the cliff you fear the most in life.

There is a hidden beauty to be found in the decay of the mortal bodies we occupy, if indeed we choose to focus on the positives rather than the immediate negative sensations that can be observed, felt, or otherwise experienced. I have a daughter turning 13 tomorrow - I was 27 when she was born, and am now 40. I will be an even 50 when my youngest becomes an adult, provided I’m still around. The window from fatherhood to my youngest turning 18 spans nearly 23 years. 23 years from 50, again if I’m still here, would put me at 73, nearing the average life expectancy for an American man.

I am pleased with my health, am stronger than I’ve ever been, and still have almost all of my hair, although it’s a little thinner up top than I recall even four years ago. I’ve been plunged into a unique professional and public life I never thought I would have, and it has directed me to fascinating people and memorable places, and given me an entire new set of concerns and cares once never worth considering. At the time I had my name thrown out there by an American President, I was working a typical job, albeit a well-paid one commensurate with my skills and education, which required me to travel extensively and deal with the rat race and pressure of sell or die. It always felt to me that something was missing.

I chose to stick my neck out there for the things I believed in and my life changed. I could have stuck it out in corporate America, kept my mouth shut, and progressed up the ladder, but at what cost? Even my mistakes have driven me to great things - like getting remarried when I had figured I’d very possibly spend the rest of my life as a bachelor unwilling to commit. Some days, I wake up and it’s a shoulder giving me issues, or my neck, or I’m just feeling ragged from not sleeping so well when I’ve got a lot on my plate. I’m not old, and I realize many who read this are seniors, but there are mornings in which I understand the adages about growing older. Those things remind me that the sun is shining, and the window of time for me to fulfill dreams is still open wide.

That realization requires action and determination, and the reminders of age drive me to fulfill those dreams with a sense of urgency.

Staying fit and eating a good diet (or cutting out certain things, like alcohol) combats the aging process, as do wise choices - such as not making sudden leaps like that time two summers ago with my kids I decided to turn a springboard flip at a swimming pool and wound up making my left calf much longer than it is supposed to be. I could barely move for two days, struggled to get around for a week, and dealt with lingering pain for months - but it was a needed reminder at 38 to continue adapting and moving, or to allow decay and comfort to take over.

Commander Price spoke to me from his grave about comfort zones, and I heeded his wisdom. Any decision comes with the risk of failure, and I’ve found that the fear of failure is one of the most crippling conditions known to mankind. Putting yourself out there comes with the risk that people you once trusted will try to humiliate you, condemn you, or strip you of all you have to offer. It comes with the risk of financial ruin, and also the risk of retaliation and harm from those who are particularly threatened by what you stand for. In this sense, it is much safer to pursue comfort, security, and obscurity.

Ships are always safest in harbor, but that isn’t why they are made. Likewise, we aren’t created to pass the time in comfort and fret over markets we can’t control, as we’ve seen countless millions of our countrymen do over the past two weeks. There have been many times since 2021 in which I’ve asked myself if I made the right choice burning my boats and championing a cause that has a drastic impact on how I’ll be viewed by greater society if things don’t go my way. Would I make the same choice to apply what I know and do well to the things I care about the most - like freedom, liberty, and leaving a legacy for my children?

The answer is always yes. I would do it every time, over and over again, even knowing the disappointments and new sets of worries that would arise. The man who lives his life tucked away as if he will never lose it, will indeed lose it because it will have never been fully lived to begin with. Even worse, he will train his children to become worthless Borgs who fear all danger and live out a feminized worldview promoted by toxic people who fear the free human spirit. This journal is indeed about freedom - not just political freedoms, but the freedom of that human spirit and the fulfillment of the things our hearts were meant to beat for.

Those heartbeats are stronger than the negative energy expended by those who will hate you for your uniqueness, beliefs, and daily reminders that they themselves are not applying their own unique talents and skills to a mission that lasts and brings change.

A full life requires you to leap off the cliff you fear the most. You’re far more likely to “die” from leaving dreams left unfulfilled than you are from taking the chances that set you free from comfort.

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Seth Keshel, MBA, is a former Army Captain of Military Intelligence and Afghanistan veteran. He is intent on living life as fully as possible, taking adventures, and finding new ways to appreciate the road less traveled in pursuit of Freedom.