Living in the Moment
“’What day is it?’asked Pooh. ‘It’s today,’ squeaked Piglet. ‘My favorite day,’ said Pooh.’”A.A. Milne
A good friend reminded me today about the importance of being present and living in the moment. It sounds almost cliche but I need to constantly be reminded of this.
Children know how to live in the moment. They are not obsessed what they will be doing tomorrow or next week. We can all learn a lesson by observing a child’s freedom to enjoy what they are doing right now.
These days i’m thinking a lot about my retirement and what it’s going to look like when I get there. “When I retire I’m going to write more, I’m going to explore my photography more (including organizing my thousands of photos), I’m going to try recipes that I just don’t have time to try right now.” And in the meantime I continue to focus on the next things I need to do in my day to day life, and what I will be doing to fill my days off when I get there. When I’m working it’s hard not to plan ahead since that’s part of my job but I have to make an effort not to carry that over into my personal life.
“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” Eleanor Roosevelt
My father died suddenly just months after he retired and with him went my parents plans for their golden years. I vowed not to let that happen to me. That was the driving force behind my big travel push in my late 40s including my decision to take 2 years off of work to see the world on my 50th birthday. While I had to do a lot of pre-planning before my journey began and even throughout my extended trip, I tried to be as flexible as possible and not think too far ahead.
It was easier to live in each moment although there were still times that I struggled not to think about the next adventure and simply enjoy what I was experiencing every moment. When I wasn’t hot air ballooning in Turkey, cycling through Vietnam, or scuba diving in the Red Sea, I had to stop to “smell the roses” as I sat writing at a sidewalk cafe or laid on a beach getting some sun. I truly realized how important it is to stop trying to fill each and every moment and to just be present.
“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.” Henry David Thoreau
When that journey ended and I had to return to reality with a job and bills to pay, it was too easy to fall into my old habits. Is it something that is hard wired into our brains or is it something we are forced into?
Technology was supposed to make our lives easier but I’m not convinced that it has. When I returned to work recently after 2 weeks off, I came back to more than 20,000 emails! Not everyone has that kind of problem but we all have become slaves to our inbox. I have also become caught up in the need to post every detail of my life on social media, thinking how a beautiful sunset would create a great IG post instead of just pausing to enjoy the moment.
When I was travelling my camera and my laptop became my travelling companions. I would post details of my travels on my website complete with pictures highlighting my experiences. Instead of travelling with a friend, I would simply share it with all my friends. But I didn’t let it become an obsession and spent a lot of time, just enjoying the extraordinary moments I was experiencing.
As I move into this next chapter of my life, it feels like things are speeding up rather than slowing down. I have to stop chasing my future and simply enjoy the present. I’m sure if my dad knew when it would all end for him, he would have lived his final years, months, and days differently. None of us know when that is going to happen so it’s important to live each moment like it’s our last (sayings like that are cliches for a reason.)
So no matter what stage of life you are in, no matter how busy you are, give yourself the time to just stop. Don’t think about what you will be doing later today, tomorrow, next week or next year, just enjoy today, right now.
“I was alive and I waited, waited. I was alive and I waited for this. Right here, Right now. There is no other place I’d rather be.” Jesus Jones
