Zoom Out

This isn’t one of those pieces about “appreciate your finances, because there are poor people in the world.”  While that’s very true and you should count your blessings, that message is repeated quite often, so I’ve got something else for you to appreciate.

I don’t know if I’m ever going to catch it.  You know, that feeling we all chase as if we can finally be “caught up” in life.  To-do lists - we all have several of them.  Sure there’s the “work” to-do list, but what about the “you” to-do list…yea, that’s the one that we really never catch.

Life is ambiguous, and ambiguity really sucks.  Or does it?  I woke up this morning with my first full-night sleep this week.  Tuesday through Thursday consisted of nights where I worked till 2:30, 1:30, and 2:00, respectively (yes, all AM times).  That’s nothing though – plenty of people probably worked to the early hours of the next morning on all five days, others have kids that don’t let them get the full night of sleep on Saturday morning, and some people have weekends that are busier than their weeks.  All duly noted.

Do you ever have so much to do, that when you get free time, your mind stalls out because you don’t know which task to start and how?  Do you feel like the minute you pay your bills for the month, that the next month’s bills find their way to your mailbox?  Do you feel like you don’t even know if you enjoy your hobbies anymore, because you haven’t done them in so long?  Have you not done your hobbies in a while because you can’t justify them as an effective use of time?  Are you moving so fast to get to a life destination, that you’re cheating yourself of the opportunity to enjoy the journey?

The point is simple: life is a struggle…and we’re darn lucky it is.  The struggle is the purpose.  The struggle defines you and it gives value to your goals when you do reach them.  86 years of struggle gave indescribable meaning to a 2004 World Series victory in Boston, and over a century of struggle will someday give meaning to a championship title on the north side of Chicago.

I realized this week, as my time was accounted for from one hour to the next, and I was fighting just to reach Friday at 5:00 (which turned into Friday at 6:30); that I should zoom out and appreciate it all.  There are people in this world, rich or poor, who don’t have a struggle to define their purpose…giving them little to fight for.  When I got to grad school a few years ago, all I had was my schoolwork and a part time job to keep me busy, I have never been more bored in my life.  In those moments of no struggle, I learned to appreciate the hectic times of my past, and also vowed to never complain about being busy ever again.  As I moved from one thing to the next yesterday, fighting to get myself to the weekend and starting to stress, I reminded myself of that internal conversation from several years ago, I zoomed out, and smiled…I was grateful to be back “in the thick of things.”

We all get to do life once.  That’s not supposed to be philosophical, it’s just reality – we get to “do” life one time.  How are you using your time?  Just to get from one point to the next?  Take in the journey, every second of it (good and bad), it defines you.  We wouldn’t be awed by the renewal of spring without the bitter cold of winter.  The holidays wouldn’t have need for celebration, without the other 340 “ordinary” days of the year.  You never know how life is going to change, and how you might miss something that you once despised.  Don’t save all the fun things for the day that you “catch up,” because you might never get there.  Heck, I’m not saying to stop chasing, I know I’m still shooting for it, but just make the chase an enjoyable one.  So attack the to-do list, but also make time for friends, make time for family, make time for hobbies, make time for zooming out and appreciating it all – read books, watch movies, take vacation days, go for walks, play board games, listen to music, do puzzles, have lengthy phone conversations, do service, ask your spouse out on a date, play with your kids, keep in touch, drive slower, get lost, exercise, give hugs, smile, relax, maybe even do some coloring. 

Your time is the most valuable commodity that you own; make it count.