What's The Rush?

27 November 2006

I spent time with a friend yesterday who is in his forties.  We had lunch with his parents - lovely people.  My friend is the youngest of two brothers and his parents are very vibrant, active people enjoying life to the full.  It suddenly struck me, as I was looking around their house with his mother; that this could be me in 44 years time. My youngest would be 46 and I still could have a lot of years ahead of me.

In forty four years...... there's a lot of living to be done in that time!  It made me wonder if we live life a little bit too urgently these days; getting a bit too caught up in the 'here and now' and forgetting how much time we really do have?

Maybe, as a society, we have become unconsciously accustomed to the notion that a nuclear war or a terrorist attack could blow us away anyway; or we could get cancer and not have long to live?  You hear of sayings, "Just live for today", "Live life like there's no tomorrow".  There's nothing wrong with these sayings, but I think in reality they can get a bit distorted.  I think that we can end up focussing so much on the here and now that it eclipses our ability to put our life in context, and actually prevents us from enjoying today.

Our lives become a pressure cooker - we have to have the ideal home, the ideal furniture, the ideal career, the ideal lifestyle....NOW!  Of course our consumer society plays a part in all this immediacy and tricks us into thinking that our enjoyment is dependant on getting or being xyz.  And our fast food, fast lane world makes it easy for us to expect that we can and should achieve our goals ASAP.  But should we?  Do we really have to be everything, have done everything, and have everything now; and all at once? 

Forty four years plus is a LONG time to be able to achieve one's goals in life.  And, despite all the anxiety about world unrest and ill health, my generation can probably expect to live a lot longer  and be more fit than our grandparents. 

As I chatted to these dynamic retirees in their inviting and comfortable home I realized that I don't have to do things tomorrow; I don't even have to do them next year or in a decade.  I've got a long time to develop my interests and to achieve all that I want to in life.

Are we stopping to smell the roses, or is life just one big rush?  My sister-in-law has a saying at the end of her email signature; it reads: "Live each day as if you are going to live forever, and you get to inherit the earth - whatever shape it's in."

I'd like to add another saying: Live each day as if you are going to live forever, and as though you have all the time in the world.

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