I’ve got a confession to make.
I’ve spent most of my life thinking ‘life’ was something that would happen to me in the future.
When I got a job, when I met my wife, when I had children, when I’d written my book, when I’ve paid off my mortgage, when my children are grown…you get the picture.
There has always been this unrelenting assumption that somehow life would REALLY start happening once XY or Z occurred – when the circumstances were sufficiently ordered for me to live my life…as if the events that led up to this spectacular moment were inconsequential in light of the destination they were navigating towards..
I was, of course, monumentally wrong. The challenges, rides, obstructions and events we collide with on a daily basis ARE our lives in every way, every day.
In some ways, our lives spin on an ever evolving axis of urgency and we distract ourselves from this reality by focusing on a future that will give us the space to live…yet deep down we know this imagined fantasy land does not and cannot exist…
Let me admit to a second error of judgement.
I’ve spent most of my life searching for ‘something’ that isn’t there…the missing piece in the jigsaw puzzle, if you like…
New experiences, exciting places, fresh ideas, different people…now, i’m not saying this is an intrinsically bad thing and reaching further is critical for progress…but…
…i’ve learned that the best things in life have ALWAYS been right here, right now…and whilst these best things are recycled, renewed and remodelled through a lifetime…the ‘best’ things that weren’t there before have made their way into my life organically and naturally…not via the road of endless searching…but through the path of living itself…
Time with people we love, moments with nature and absolute engagement in tasks we love will always be the ultimate experiences, regardless of the direction in which the river of life flows…
I guess what i’m trying to say is this…
The very best things in life are probably where we are AND they are almost certainly happening right now…if only we can be BRAVE enough to see it.
Brave you ask?
…yes brave, because it’s actually a darn hard thing to admit that this is ‘as good as it gets’…think about that…
Living in the present and accepting our reality to be OUR BEST PLACE means letting go of an imagined fantasy that is simultaneously comforting yet catastrophically confining…not everybody is willing to do this.
A consoling fantasy that restricts our reality is a hard thing to release.
…but once we do, our ACTUAL lives and the lives of those around us become infinitely richer.
Today is your life.
So true! Thank you for writing this!