A Beautiful Soul
This past week, the world lost one of the most beautiful souls I have ever had the privilege of knowing. Clare was kind. She was giving. She was selfless. She was passionate. Caring, goofy, open-minded, genuine, and so much more. But most of all, she was someone who lived. Truly, genuinely, passionately lived. From her voice, her mannerisms, her laugh, her eyes, you know she lived her life to the absolute fullest. She knew that she only had one life to live and she made sure that it was a good one. One that gave back, one that was joyful and fulfilling.
She was so generous with her time, her knowledge, her energy, her thoughts, and her talents. If there was a need around her, she was more than willing to fill it. And she not only filled it, she would give more than needed and always sought out ways she could do more. She had an intentionality that far surpassed the norms. She found every way possible to see the beauty of every single person she encountered.
I want to live more like Clare. We should all want to live more like Clare. It is so unbelievably heartbreaking to lose such a beautiful soul so young, with so much more life to live, but anyone who knew Clare knows that she would not want us to spend our time grieving her. She would want us to spend that energy on something good. On helping and serving others, on making changes to help restore this beautiful planet we’ve been blessed with, on whole-heartedly pursuing our passions.
It’s times like these when you truly get a glimpse at how short our time on this earth is.
I was only blessed with Clare’s friendship for a few months, but in those few months, she was truly able to change my life. Every single moment we spent together, she told me more about her life and her dreams and passions and her past and what she had already accomplished in her short life. And every single second that I spent with her, in my head, all I said was I want to be more like this girl.
She was so strong and independent and when she had a dream, she put every single ounce of her energy into making it a reality.
I know that when we lose someone, so often everyone puts on their rose-colored glasses and only sees the good parts about that person. We only ever talk about the good things because those are the only things we want to remember. But anyone who had the blessing of knowing Clare was never wearing rose-colored glasses around her. She was everything good about the world, every good thing that we all should strive to be. She was an absolute beacon of light and the world will sadly be a darker place without her.
She was taken too soon. But so her spirit can live on, we should all try to be more like her. Strive for greatness. Live every single waking second of our lives pursuing good and fulfilling things. Using our surplus to give to those who don’t have.
As scary as it can be to think about, any one of our lives could come to an end in a split second. So why waste a single moment of our precious time living a life that we don’t completely love?!
Life is not meant to spend 40 hours a week or more at a job you’re not passionate about. Life is not meant to study for years for a major you don’t love. It’s not about spending time with people who tear you down instead of building you up. It’s not about going through the motions, living a mundane life that you don’t wake up every single day loving.
It’s not about just existing, it’s about LIVING.
The saddest part about losing Clare is knowing all of the people on this earth who will never have the privilege of knowing her, of allowing her joyful and infectious spirit change their lives. I fully believe that every single person who encountered her was at least in some small way positively impacted by her.
While Clare is no longer with us, her spirit will live on in each of us who knew her and knew that all she wanted was to make a difference in the world.
She had so many dreams, so many visions for her life, so many people she wanted to help, and I believe that if she knew that one single person would be changed by hearing her story, then it would all be worth it. I know that I am one of those people, and I hope you will be too.
Clare, I hope you continue to shine your light down on the world. I hope that because of your story, we will never take another sunrise for granted, another starry night for granted, another day swimming in the ocean for granted. You were truly one of the best of us and you will be missed more than you could ever know. I am so incredibly blessed to have met you and I will continue to work every single day to try to be a light in this dark world as you were. I will do my best to convert every single person to #zerowaste because we were blessed with this earth and we need to take care of it. I will continue to try to be an inspiration to others as you were to live our most fulfilling lives. I will not waste time being sad and confused about your untimely passing. I will use my time and energy on seeing every single moment and person I encounter as a blessing. I will strive to be kinder, more genuine, more open-minded, more giving, more selfless, more passionate. I know that’s what you would want us to do. To work on ourselves, so we can give more of ourselves to others.
Clare, I thank you for the gift of your friendship and your joyous spirit. You will be so missed and truly cherished forever. I hope you’re at peace somewhere in your unicorn onesie and adventure ascot! Miss you, beautiful soul.
