Are there things you believe in - political, social, spiritual, that you don’t really do much about? Do you think someday you'll be politically active, someday you'll volunteer; someday you'll write something meaningful, and be the hero you know is inside you?

A while ago, I had a conversation with a friend. After we discussed our political beliefs, we confessed to each other that we didn't really do anything, except to vote, to turn those beliefs into reality. I realized then that it's not enough to have ideas, to have ideals, to think of the hero you could be, if only there was more time, more energy, more of something.

But all the while, the clock is ticking. People with more selfish motives are out there working against what you want, pulling the world in their direction. Natural forces like disease are busy at work making people's lives harder than yours. There never seems to be enough time for what we think is important in our lives, and too often, the things we know matter the most are what we allow to slip away.

I'm writing this to remind myself to break the patterns I'm so used to - of living in an insulated world I call my own, as though my lack of action doesn't matter, as if the things I really care about will somehow take care of themselves.

They won't.

I'm telling myself to find the time to be brave and beautiful.