If Not Now, When?

This post is second in a series from the book Life is Short – Wear Your Party Pants:Ten simple Truths That Lead To An Amazing Life by Loretta LaRoche.

So many of us spend big chunks of our day – sometimes even weeks at a time – oblivious to the reality of the moments that make up our lives. We spend the bulk of our time inside our head, so wrapped up in our thoughts about the past and our plans for the future that we don’t even pay attention to the little things that are happening around us right now. It’s as if the present is nothing but a rehearsal for some imagined future performance.

~ Loretta LaRoche ~

Being a passenger when my husband is at the driver’s wheel absolutely drives me crazy. It isn’t the fact that he always has to be first in the line of traffic (and will pass a gazillion cars to get there). It isn’t the fact that he tailgates and I am able to see the dandruff on the lady in the car in front of us. It isn’t even the fact that he has a predisposition towards ‘road rage disorder’.

What REALLY drives me crazy is that he is so intent on getting to the destination that he misses out on the entire journey. Much of our rides together consist of me begging:

• “slow down, I really like this stretch of road, it is so awe inspiring as the sun sets over the hills”
• “oh look, slow down, there’s a mama cow with her newborn baby calf
• “oh please stop the car, the daisies are all in bloom in that field, I want to take a picture

When we are out riding around, even if we are on that dreaded trip to the grocery store, I want to enjoy the journey. I want to inhale the community where I live. I want to be woven into it’s dailyness. I want to notice it’s subtle changes and incredible beauty. I don’t want it to be a blur from a car window.

Yet when we are at home, we experience role reversal. Suddenly my husband wants to enjoy the journey and I am intent on getting to ‘my destination’. Like finishing the dishes so I can get to the laundry. Or finishing the laundry so I can make up the beds. And let’s not forget tilling the soil so I can plant my garden. Or making up next week’s lesson plan so I can teach my class….and my daughter. And so it goes…the dance of chaos.

How often have you sat down for a few moments to chill out, and then heard that nagging little inner voice starting in on your: What are you doing, just sitting there? You don’t have time for this! Get up. You have lots to accomplish today! Snap out of it!

~ Loretta LaRoche ~

There are all sorts of mundane tasks that call out our names. Some call it work, others call it marriage and motherhood. I call it life.

Putting the fun back into your life calls for putting a different spin on the ‘dance of chaos’. For me, this challenge began back at the beginning of the year when I set up my ‘cornerstones’ for 2008. I started out the year determined not to ’sweat the small stuff’.

Some days I do really well.

• days when I take a book onto my front porch in the early morning and read
• days when I put down my ‘to do list’ and go on a photo ‘field trip’
• days when I stop and watch the birds from my office window
• days when I go to a bookstore just to ‘browse’

Other days, not so good.

How about you? How do you slow down from your daily dance of chaos and enjoy the journey? Inquiring minds want to know.

And if not now, when?

Don’t forget, if there is a question that you would like to have answered or a topic you would like to have discussed, be sure to email me at dbeverlyhills@gmail.com. All questions will remain anonymous. All answers will be sprinkled with my perspective.