BLOG.004 | #TakeFlightDocumentary

Love the life you live. Live the life you love.

Levi Silvanie
Jul 23, 2017 · 6 min read

“I fucking love my life…” I wish I could show you how intense I experience this and how deep it goes. It’s like when I stare at my son, I become speechless. I just smile and turn into I shy kid, in love, amazed, grateful… and in deep need to give love. That’s how I stare at life. No matter what I did, what I went through or what’s still to come; I’m convinced that life is the most beautiful gift of all. It’s the time you and I (all of us) get. The here and now. You can waste it or live it purposefully, it’s the one thing that allows us to be a part of the grand total, and whether we’re aware of it or not — we impact each other’s lives everyday.

I think I understood this at a very young age. I had ‘Natural Born Leader’ written all over me. As much as I tried to avoid it; I was always seen as the leader, the one with the ability to move the people around him. At my core I’m passionate about bringing out the best out of everything and everyone, starting with myself. Maybe that desire is sparked by my fascination with life. I used to look at nature and think: “Everything else holds their ground and plays their part, so why am I insecure about myself, why should I want to be anything else but me? A rock does not try to be a tree, and a mountain doesn’t imitate the sea. Yet together they are the wonders I see”.

When I was young I used to think that I could teach and help others to be better, but I learned the hard way that you cannot teach or help anyone if they’re not open for it. What was even a more difficult lesson to learn was; that you can’t teach if you don’t know.

shot by Selwyn de Wind

I was confronted with this reality when I moved to the Netherlands back in 2007. I realized how much I didn’t know. Aware of my natural abilities to move people and my intense desire to be the best me that I can be, I started to focus on me, first. My songs were literally journals of me talking to myself. Pushing myself to be me. The greatest me I can be, and just express that through music. Somewhere in the process I lost sight of my passion and started focusing on becoming a greater artist, which by the way never seemed to satisfy me. Last year when I hit rock bottom and didn’t know what to do nor where to go, that’s the moment I realized that the most important thing I had when it’s all stripped down is my life and who I am… and that’s all I needed.

Somewhere around March of this year, a friend told me a story about his friend Reny, that he considers to be one of his biggest motivators. Little did I know that this story will one day change my life forever…

Reny’s Story

I was 28, healthy, working hard as a business advisor with loads of responsibilities. I did sports and tried to enjoy my life as much as possible. Aside from my busy career, I was also studying.

It all started 4 years ago, August 2013. My dad just passed away and my wife and I decided to move in together in Den Bosch. On the day of the move, I literally stumbled several times. Within weeks I started to lose my balance and that’s when the medical roller coaster started. After half a year of painful medical-researches, in February of 2014, I was diagnosed with ALS.

ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. A-myo-trophic comes from the Greek language. “A” means no. “Myo” refers to muscle, and “Trophic” means nourishment — “No muscle nourishment.”

It was a slap in the face, we couldn’t believe nor accept it. I had never even heard of that disease before, and now I was tagged with it.

For months, I lived in denial. I tried just about everything; minerals, Vitaminen D, B12, Q10, Acetyl L Carnitine… I even tried cannabis oil, but my body just continued to tap out.

Despite my illness, I forced myself to work and study, but then I just couldn’t anymore. Even though it felt like it was far too late, I started enjoying my life as much as I could; traveled a lot, got married and had a son — Nathan.

Until February of this year I could still talk, eat, and drink, but then I got the flu, which turned into pneumonia. I stayed in the Intensive Care for 6 weeks, It was almost fatal.

Now I can’t move. I can’t talk. I use my eyes to type and I use a speech-generating device to communicate.

Levi Silvanie’s song ‘Take Flight’ — keeps me standing.

When I heard this story — I knew I had to meet him. And for his 33rd birthday we gave him an OPEN HOUSE CONCERT. ► Watch VLOG.003 tomorrow night at 8pm(CEST) on my YouTube Channel.

w/ Reny and his son, Nathan

While writing this blog an old poem I wrote in 2012, came to me and I want to share with with you, before I close.

Enjoy life while you are alive they say…

I see the Leafs dancing, swinging to the flow.
Holding on to their roots, but still letting go.
Life has its ways of going its own way and doing its own thing.
These Leafs have no idea; “they don’t know what might hit them”, I think.
Looking like small particles fully dependent on life’s rhythm to find their own and figure out where to go.

Look at these Leafs. What do they know?
All will fall by winter’s call, one might quit before the other.
If only these Leafs knew, maybe they would leave and start anew. Escape by avoiding the fall.
I don’t get this at all. They stick around doing their thing, whatever it is that Leafs do. Sticking to their roots unaware of time but still seeing it through.
“Enjoy life while you are alive”; the Leafs said. “We all will fall, but that’s our place in our own race. Life is a circle, we live and make way for new life to live its own. Enjoy life while you are alive and keep life alive.”

Our lives is not only about us, our dreams, goals and our family.
We all play a huge role in this things call life in every single thing we do; how we interact with each other, the earth and everything in it, what we teach our kids, how we love ourselves and how we share that love with others.

Love the life you live. Live the life you love… you’re always inspiring someone.


Thanks for being here and taking the time to read this blog post; it’s a real motivation. I look forward to taking you on this journey, and I’m excited to share the ups and downs with you, on my daily Instagram stories, weekly #voicenote releases on SoundCloud, the vlogs on my YouTube Channel and my blogs here on Medium. Don’t be shy to say “Hi” — I encourage you to share your thoughts, subscribe, leave a comment and pass it on… this content is for everyone.

► Watch VLOG.003 | tomorrow night at 8pm(CEST) on my YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/user/LeviSilvanie


Subscribe to blogs here https://medium.com/@levisilvanie

Find my latest music here:
on iTunes: https://goo.gl/dNXzjZ
Spotify: https://goo.gl/N4alZR
and follow my raw acoustic #voicenote series on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/levisilvanie

Follow me online here:
http://www.levisilvanie.com
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Levi Silvanie

Written by

artist, writer & creative entrepreneur

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