"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while you could miss it"
-Ferris Bueller
That quote to me is so iconic. Not only is it from one of the greatest movies ever (in my opinion of course), but it is so meaningful.
Life moves a mile a minute. I can't even deal with the fact that July is already over (legit where did this month go). Every single day seems to blur together with the routine of living. Wake up - Go to work - Come home and make dinner - Catch up on some tivo - Bed. That has seriously become my life. I am so caught up with working, making money, general life stressors that every single day become monotonous. Routine. Predictable.
I think we as a people are so accustomed to living life......like just to live it. We worry about bills, family, friends, work, finances, love, relationships, just getting through the fucking day honestly. Each day we wake up and are already thinking about what we need to do the next week. We aren't even living for today anymore. When I make plans with my friends I literally have to schedule it out a month in advance because that is "just how crazy busy my life is". I don't know about you but the thought of living to just get through another day is killer sometimes.
Whatever happened to hitting the pause button? Why don't we take more time out of our hectic day to day to just ENJOY. Enjoy life. Each other. OURSELVES. It makes me sad when I go out to eat and see couples sitting across from each other at dinner both on their cell phones. Why?! Why why WHY? Can't it wait? Can't life just wait anymore?
This blog was inspired by a recent visit with my therapist (if you don't have one you should get one. EVERYONE in my opinion should have a therapist. They are amazing). I was venting about how frustrating my life is right now with the MILLIONS of things I have on my plate and she just sat back and asked me:
"When is it ok for you to hit your PAUSE button?"
I looked at her and laughed because for a second I had no idea what she was talking about. What the fuck is a "pause" button? I haven't hit pause on my life since like 1999. Who would have thought right? Hit pause. Stop life around you and just LIVE in a moment. Take some time out from your day to day.......your monotonous. Slow down. Step AWAY from stressors. And just breathe. Make time for one another. Make time for YOURSELF.
Life becomes so routine. Everything just gets stuffed together. So mundane. So predictable. We become so polarized. Fixated on everything that lies ahead of us that we can't even focus on what is in front of us in that moment. I am sorry to say that I am so guilty of this. I focus on everything I have on my plate for the week to come that I take advantage of the wonderful man I get to come home to and break bread with every night. I mean yeah, I'm here eating dinner, chatting, an watching tv.....but am I really there? When was the last time you were REALLY there? I mean truly there? When is it ok to take time out? When is it OK to hit the pause button on life? And just live?
What I learned from today's session with my therapist is that it is OK to hit the pause button. Make time. Let everything else wait. Bills will still be bills. Obligations will STILL be obligations. Life will still be there. Stress will still be fucking stress. Everything will still be there after you resume. After you take that break.......enjoy that pause......live in the NOW......everything will still be waiting.
Why are we as a culture so scared to hit pause? Are we afraid life will just keep moving without us? Are we stressed we will fall behind? Are we so desperate to get to the next step that we miss out on enjoying the right now? Either way........it's important to find time. To ENJOY life. In this moment. Right fucking now. Like Bueller said.....if we don't stop and look around once in a while we could miss it.
So I say fuck it. PAUSE FOR A SECOND. Take the moment to just enjoy life and everything you have in front of you. I know life is bananas and we all have a million things to do....and just the thought of taking a second away is crazy......but it isn't. In the bigger scheme of things......at the end of the day.....the bills, stress, headaches, heartaches, struggles, sacrifices....they just won't matter. You won't even remember them. They will be fleeting seconds of your life. What matters are those moments. The ones you cherish. The moment you laughed until you cried with your best friend. The moment you sang Dashboard Confesssional at the top of your lungs...never feeling more connected to a song ever. The times you cried with your family. Those moments matter. Those moments exist. We just have to hit the PAUSE button to really feel them and enjoy them. Live in them. Be part of them.
So go on. Hit your pause button. Let me know how that pause worked out for you.
"No matter how much time passes....no matter what takes place in the interim...there are some things we can never assign to oblivion, memories we can never rub away" - Haruki Murakami
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