Whoa! Look around us!
Everyone is so . . . busy. We’re almost can’t see each other.
We’re juggling, talking, typing, scanning instead of reading, talking instead of thinking, putting off time with our family and friends. We all know so much about productivity, goals, keeping connected, and following our passion to build the business that we love. It’s enough to make a brain shut down into auto-mode.
I know I occasionally find myself staring out from a glazed look, walking into walls. How about you?
Being determined, motivated, set on a path with a laser beam focus is a good thing. . . . right? It is, if every now and then, we check that our destination is still where we want to go and that we’re enjoying the ride on the way.
The Going Not the Getting There
I see it in clients. I’ve felt it in my friends. I’ve done it myself. It’s a heads down sort of thing that takes over our thinking. We become so aware of time, so time-managing, that we manage to set aside anything that might, even possibly from far off, appear to be construed as doing nothing.
What’s wrong with doing nothing or better yet doing something just for fun — not balance . . . F-U-N? What’s wrong with enjoying the folks we care about as we move through our lives?
Nature has no straight lines.
Our priorities can get so straight that they become twisted and upside-down. We can get so focused on our destination that we forget to pay attention to the journey and the people who make living our lives magical, meaningful, and worth living.
Way, way back in the olden days, Harry Chapin sang this in a song.
It’s got to be the getting there, not the going that’s good. –Heads and Tales, Greyhound
We’ll never get this moment back . . . oops, it’s already gone!
At the end of my days will I regret the work I didn’t do or the time I didn’t spend with my husband, my son, my dad, my mom, my brothers, my nieces and nephews, my lifelong friends, the new exciting people I’ve just met?
If you knew that your time left was only tonight, what would you do then?
I’m going with Bruce Cockburn’s answer . . .
If it was the last night of the world, I’d have champagne with you. –Breakfast in New Orleans, Dinner in Timbuktu, Last Night of the World
Yep, that’s what I’d do.
I’m making a sign and putting up right above my monitor.
Will you make a sign too? It’s the time of your life.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
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Morning, Liz!
Oftentimes, I look at how I spend my time outside of work, and I wonder if I’m utilizing it productively enough. I’m working on finishing a novel, completely revamping and pretty much recreating my massive website, pondering a few other design and writing projects, and also keeping up with my friends and playing through some video games (yep, I’m a dork!). Yet, two or more hours every evening are spent doing none of these things.
I’ve questioned that. I’ve wondered if I really can’t be more constructive with my free time.
And then I realize that some of my most treasured and valuable hours are the ones I spend having fun. Nothing’s tangible there – I won’t have anything to show for these hours every night.
Unless you count mental stability and sheer happiness as “something to show”, of course. =)
It’s really, really important to strike that balance, and to not let the pressure to be productive every minute of every day get to you. Fun is just as important as making progress, because without fun, the brain shuts down and no more progress can be made!
In other (and fewer) words: I agree with you. =)
Hey Kusani!
I’m so with you. The vortex of what we want to get done can pull us into forgetting to pay attention to things in our life that are what life is really about. π
Hi Liz
My sign (I know, a bit large, but hey..):
and as you know I always, always listen to my good friend π
Karin H. (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business)
Karin!
Well chosen signs sometimes are HUGE!! And that one is a well-chosen sign if I ever saw one. π
As ‘huge’ as its writer π
Karin H.
I was thinking about what a “huge” thinker he is. π
So was I π
(And of course a huge friend)
Karin H.
I’ve heard the universe described as a hologram with every bit containing every other bit, with what we see being a matter of how we focus our attention – how broad or how sharp. Just focus on one part, and we miss so much that could give meaning to the part we focus on.
Enjoy each day you make a holiday, Liz. π
Hi Liz,
I’m making a sign too. One of my favorite quotes, “The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it” ~ Anonymous
It is the time of our lives.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hi Rick!
Every day. I’m working on every day, Rick. Not doing perfectly, but getting better at it. π
Hi Maura!
That’s a great sign to make. Wow! Yeah. Let’s be alive today!!