Fight.

Most of my life I have consistently fought for what I wanted.  There are few moments where I can look back and say "Yeah, that was just too hard so I gave up.".  I can't think of even once when I backed up from what I was fighting for and decided it wasn't worth it.
Now.  That does not mean that I have never been shaken in my perspective.  Or that I have never broken down and sobbed in the middle of the fight.  I do not claim to be undefeated in my fights, or even closer to winning than losing in most of the battles I have undertaken.
I have screamed in agony and cried in despair.  I have beaten my hands on the floor and shaken my fists at the sky.
This is how I have always lived my life.  The state of "I just don't care" has never been a comfortable space in my life. I've always been incredibly black and white.  I have always had strong beliefs and feelings and I have always believed in expressing them.
The fight and the feelings involved in the passionate existence that I have chosen as my path can encourage someone to pick up and fight themselves or it can be a weapon dipped in my own truth.
Some people fight with compassion, and grace, and take a quieter path than I.  It took me a long time to see that sometimes the path of less resistance wasn't giving up, it was stepping back to try again later.
When you fight like I do, sometimes your feelings take over so much that logic and peace and other people's thoughts are overshadowed and forgotten.  Sometimes you get so involved in the fight that you forget what you are fighting for.  This has happened with me more times than I would like to admit.
But luckily I have been blessed as I've gotten older with something that allows me to clearly remember what I'm fighting for and why it's worth it. To figure out exactly what is worth the fight.
Most times you won't see me trying to fight someone to tell them that they are wrong.  You won't see me fighting to make everyone else eat how I do, or believe what I do.  You won't see me picketing the White House about global warming, or see me spray painting someone's property because I don't believe in fur (which I don't).
What I fight for is love. 
I will every day look at a stranger and smile at them because they look like they need it.  I will call a friend that I haven't spoken to in ten years so that I can find out what "really" happened that they posted on Facebook.  I will drive across town to take flowers to my best friend who had a bad day.  I will go and cry with another friend who just lost a loved family member.
If they tell me not to come, I will show up anyway.
Because my fight is to remember those that are important to me and love them undeniably, to be in their lives and to fight what they have to fight. Be that a health issue, money issues, relationship issues, whatever it may be, it is my fight too.
I think that we as a society have lost our ability, or at least our will to fight for what we want.  I think that subjective, objective assessment of whether or not to get involved in another person's life has overshadowed what is really needed, which is to continuously show up with open arms and say "I am here".  We are too worried about giving out our time, too worried about getting up for work, too worried about saving our energy for......ourselves.
We've forgotten that the best way to love someone is to show up.  To give of ourselves, our energy, our time.
Fighting always seems to get a bad rap.  It's usually seen in a bad light.  But I will fight to my last breath to make sure that the people in my life know how important they are.  I will fight to hug them as they push me away, I will fight to say I love you even when they don't want to hear it.
I am blessed in that this passionate need to love is built in, but equally cursed in that loving that deeply makes me vulnerable, and many times hurt.

But know this:
I will fight with you. 
You are never alone.
I love you.

Now go find someone else to fight for.

:)
K