What does it mean to live boldly?

This is not a phrase I have ever used, so I’m not sure I can comment on it. It is likely somewhat different from living italicized, though, because living italicized gets mixed up with living quote marks, especially when it comes to book titles, movies, tv shows, and newspapers. Don’t even get me started on living strike-through; it’s difficult enough as it is, particularly when the text size is small. Living camel case is, predictably, a rollercoaster, and not for the faint of heart. Living footnotes is really off topic¹. Living underlined is probably the closest in meaning to living boldly, so using this flawless logic, we can dig into what living underlined really means and come to an understanding of living boldly.

I do not know what living underlined means. Maybe, shoes on, like a physical underline? All the time? We can agree that sleeping in a bed with shoes on is a bold move, but is it living boldly? If you just turn your body horizontal, does the underline have to move too, i.e., do the shoes need to go under your back (or stomach, however you sleep)? This is hard. I’m shocked and a little saddened to learn that Aristotle never even came close to covering this, one of the biggest – if not the biggest – philosophical question of our times.

Perhaps to live underlined doesn’t refer to your physical self. I feel I am on the verge of a breakthrough here. Perhaps it means that the horizon (the future, the potential of the individual) is existential. And if that is so, then being underlined means that you have the capacity to determine your own horizon; that you are, in a sense, on top of your own future. So by being underlined, you are taking control and making deliberate choices, rather than letting life make decisions for you. You are opting in.

If we accept that premise, and also accept the previous premise that living underlined is akin to living boldly, we can therefore claim with confidence that living boldly means to grab life by the horns. Impeccably reasoned, A+.

Footnote

1. So let’s not even go there.