Chasing Greenlights
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey has been in my top five books since the first time I read it. I recently read it again, and it continues to hold its spot. This book acts as a memoir, but is coupled with life advice that everyone should follow - chase after your greenlights.
Greenlights symbolize every opportunity that needs to be taken, every moment in which life encourages you to continue on in difficulty, and taking chances despite the odds.
It is through these greenlights that we discover who we are, and more importantly, who we want to become. Throughout his life, McConaughey hadmany experiences that helped shape him, and it was through these experiences that he learned to not only look for and chase greenlights, but also to create them.
When life wasn’t working out the way he wanted, he waited. He had yellow lights and red lights, those moments where you are forced to stop because life says so. But never at any point did he stop chasing and creating the life he wanted.
That is why this novel is a crucial read for everyone. How many of us stop what we are doing and chase the life we want? How many of us quit listening to that voice in our head that tells us “we will do it later when we have time”? The majority of us keep on keeping on, as the saying goes. We don’t change. We stay the same. For many, that comfortability is nice. We enjoy the safety net of a job that provides for us, even if it isn’t quite how we’d like to spend our lives.
However, I believe that is a problem we all are facing that causes us to feel a deep-seated unhappiness.
I know that many want a different life, but the number one thing that gets in our way is money. This causes us to ask how we can achieve what we want to in life if we don’t have the money to wait.
Well, we do need to save money when we can. We need to work while we are able to work. But more importantly, we need to stop thinking that we have unlimited time.
Time is not guaranteed, and yet it is the easiest thing to take for granted. We never know how much of it we actually have, yet we expect to wake up every morning. Every single day I remind myself of this. Personal experiences have taught this lesson the hard way.
As a result, I am continuously asking myself if I would be happy with my life if I died tomorrow. A little morbid? Maybe. But it forces me to live in the moment. It forces me to go after what I want, or figure out a way that I can begin chasing my greenlights even if I can’t make them happen immediately. It forces me to make the changes I need in order to have the life I want RIGHT NOW, because I might not get tomorrow.
That is why I really appreciate the concept of greenlights that is woven throughout this memoir. It is chasing after your greenlight. It is giving everything you have to give in order to keep on “l i v i n.”
And this forces me to think of another favorite novel - The Great Gatsby. Gatsby chased after his green light (Daisy). He gave everything he had to give to become the man she needed and a man she would want, and always watched for the green light at the end of her dock. Did it cost him quite literally everything? Yes. But what life is worth living without risks? We take risks with love, with money, with careers, and it is these risks that give us purpose, meaning, and enjoyment in our lives every day.
