There is just one hour, twelve minutes, and forty eight… forty seven… forty six seconds before the clock strikes 17h00 to halt a hardworking day. You are eager to escape the god-forsaken torturous nightmare yet only to come home and slump yourself into your sluggish fat-building sofa fixating your sight to a mind-numbing 40inch television box.

The typical view of “Living The Life” includes owning the state-of-the-art physical interaction slayer, residing in a gargantuan estate along with other silver spooned neighbours and being chauffeured around because exerting pressure on a peddle is a far too strenuous task to be performed. Therefore, the masses blinded and brainwashed by this illusion endure the pains of slogging till their bones crumble striving to earn their artificial bliss.

Hence the word “Existing”, one that is doomed, despondent and an inanimate lump of matter that’s main aim is to be a mundane run of the mill in order to maintain the status quo. Trapped and controlled by their fears they become yet another statistic and drift aimlessly past the phenomenon of life as they run on autopilot. The dreadful routine of dragging yourself out of bed only because your metabolic processes force you too simply contribute to your mere existence. Your bucket list aspiringly scribed when you were 12 becomes nothing more than a haunting reminder of your bleak and dismal reality. This is a purely vile plague presenting the future with an outbreak of monotony.

Yet, on the other hand, there are the few who have the ability to use their fist-sized organ and come to the realisation that posting “Happy Birthday Pal!” on a friend’s wall, only because Facebook jogged your memory, does not compensate for a wholehearted embrace. Hence, high-handed materialists should fathom the fact that riches and wealth is anything but needed to lead a gratifying and fulfilling livelihood and like I live by the words of Oscar Wilde: “The true perfection of man lies not in what man has, but in what man is.”

Living is allowing yourself to be in awe at the sapphire heavens with their silver-lined pillows while the aqua waters glistens their reflections, cherishing Mother Nature’s kaleidoscopic arches after showers that she cleanses us with and relishing in the exquisiteness of the flora and fauna she elaborately clothes us in. It is simply enjoying the beauty that life has to offer.

While both words mean a state of being here on earth, they are at completely opposite ends of the life journey spectrum. Existing is the fist while living is the punch. In fact, people don’t live, but they survive each day, for they are too busy, too tired, too stressed and too worried to really indulge in the delectable lip-smacking treats of life.

Arising at the break of dawn knowing that your life has a purpose and meaning and having the ability to manifest your dreams into reality and actualizing your full potential is one of life’s greatest achievements. Thus if there is no purpose or meaning for life, then why do we continue to exist?