What does it mean to live?

By Dr. Shari Beecher, PhD.

I had a friend say to me the other day, “I can’t believe it is September already! I haven’t even had a chance to live this year.” It got me thinking, what does it actually mean to live?

If you ask Webster’s Dictionary, live is a verb and defined as, “to be alive.” I personally associate the word alive with the medical field. If a doctor asks if the patient is alive, they are not asking if the individual has worked or gone on vacation lately. They are asking if the patient is breathing and/or if their heart is beating. If we take Webster’s definition to heart, then everyone breathing with a heartbeat is living.

Let’s talk about a few words such as ‘assisted living’ or ‘living on the edge.’ In these instances, people are doing things such as cooking, hiking, eating, and any number of daily tasks/activities. Furthermore, all of these activities involve people interacting with their environment.

In an article published in the British Journal of Psychology, researchers discuss that as children we are taught by schools about the biological concept "live," also known as "alive." Yet, it is through interaction with the environment we develop a psychological concept of to live.

None of us experience the same events or perceive the events the same, which shape our concept to live. Each of us have our own concept of what it means to live. Due to the recent pandemic, we are not able to live the way we did before.

Does that mean we are not living? No, we are living, just not the same way we did before. We still can interact with our environment.

Fighting the change and working to live the way we did before the pandemic can drain our resources and bolster depression. We all may need to take time and interact in the approved environments in order to redefine what it means to live.

All of us would benefit to find new and fun ways to live today and shape tomorrow.

Dr. Shari Beecher, PhD. is the owner of Platinum Research and Consulting Partners, LLC in Okarche and a contributor to Kingfisher Times and Free Press.