An Alive Day: You Are Still Here
· Being
Maybe today is your Alive Day. Not because something dramatic happened, but because you chose to notice that you are breathing.
One of the things I love about social media is when you stumble on something that stops you. Not because it's loud or polished, but because it hits a part of you that's been quiet for too long. That's what happened when I saw this story.
I do not know Zachary Polega. But through Rule29, I have had the privilege of working with Mike Irwin and helping shape the Team Red, White & Blue brand in the early days. That work left a mark on me. It taught me what service looks like when it's lived, not said. It showed me the kind of strength that doesn't give up. It just keeps showing up.
Zach is one of the people who carries that strength.
He survived a grenade explosion during a special operations mission. Every year, he marks that moment as his Alive Day. A day to remember the moment everything almost changed, and the moment he realized he was still here.
This year, he honored it with a workout and by helping carry the American flag across the country as part of Team RWB's Old Glory Ultra Relay. That image stayed with me. Not because of the flag itself, but because of the posture of someone who knows what it means to wake up and realize that life is fragile, and precious, and not guaranteed.
The idea of an Alive Day has been moving through me all week.
Most of us will never experience what Zach did. And I hope we never do. But every one of us has days where we forget to be present. We rush. We worry. We scroll. We miss the small things that are trying to get our attention.
That is part of why Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. There's something sacred about a day built around slowing down. Around gratitude. Around noticing what we already have instead of what we wish we had. Around looking at the people around our table and just being thankful and present.
Zach's story pulled me back to that truth. It became my Being HumanKind inspiration of the week. A reminder that every day I wake up, that is a great day.
Maybe today is your Alive Day.
Not because something dramatic happened, but because you chose to notice that you are breathing. Because you chose to look someone in the eye a little longer. Because you chose to feel instead of rush past your own life.
I hope this post and story stay with you. They stayed with me. Because the truth is, we all need reminders that no matter what we are walking through, today is a gift. And sometimes the shift begins in the quietest way. By pausing. By looking inward. By looking up. By saying thank you.
In Being HumanKind I write that the miracle is not that life happens (although life is). The miracle is that we get to notice it.
Wherever you are reading this, I hope you feel the weight and the wonder of being alive. Let that shape the rest of your day.
— Justin