Embracing Right Now
Have you ever taken a deep breath and found that the week was over? If you’re like me (how I used to be), you probably never took time for that deep breath. Instead, someone interrupted your spinning thoughts, which were trying to plan out your entire month, and said, “Can you believe it’s already Friday?”
I’ll get to the point. We spend so much time rushing to finish a million different tasks, while simultaneously planning out when we’re going to complete the other million tasks that we have to do. We force ourselves to work really hard and fast so that we can accomplish all of the things that we supposedly ‘need’ to. Yet, this leaves little time, if any, for actually living and enjoying life.
I recently discovered that my life is not defined by how many million tasks that I can complete in the fastest amount of time. Unless these tasks involve doing something that I’m passionate about, I’m probably just mindlessly wasting away my time. I used to do this while cleaning, eating food and watching TV. I was either not mentally present while doing these things or they weren’t adding real value to my life. Yet, I continued to do them the same way, always rushing.
Whenever I would eat a meal, I would always be also trying to study for a test or to finish up some last minute homework. This usually resulted in some oatmeal missing my mouth and landing on some important paper to my added frustration. Anyways, even in class while the professor was teaching my mind would be planning out the rest of the day and how I was going to most efficiently finish all of my tasks. Then, when I had a second to unwind I would throw myself in front of the television and call that happiness. It was actually so I didn’t have to try and find something else to do because I had forgotten how to truly relax. I was like a robot, mindlessly completing my work and always striving to be the most effective. Sure, my checklist of things to do had a lot of checks on it, but I also wasn’t taking any time to live and enjoy my life.
My case may be a little on the extreme side, but I am not alone. We all want to be successful. So, we rush and rush and rush to complete all of our tasks most efficiently until we finally get a vacation. Then, we spend that vacation rushing to catch up on work, while trying to get a tan and before we know it, we’re back in the rush.
I am not criticizing anyone here. Trust me. For so many years, this has been my life. I am a planner. I literally used to have entire weeks planned out to the minute in advance. That’s not an exaggeration.
What I am trying to do is offer advice and expose this habit for the mindless time sucker that it is. When we rush through the day, we don’t really enjoy the gift that it is. It is so important to be mindful of everything that we do in a day, even something as simple as drinking a cup of tea. We should be aware of every sip, savoring the sweetness while appreciating the fact that we’re alive. Instead of doing this, we pour that tea into a to-go cup on our rush to work and sip it mindlessly until we bring our lips to the cover and no liquid comes out.
To sum up this entire post in one sentence: Stop thinking about the 24 million things that you have to do and focus on the one thing that you’re doing right now.
Acknowledge how you feel right now. Remember that you’re alive and living right now. Thinking about tomorrow just wastes away today. It’s a nasty process that steals our precious time until our lives are defined by the checklist of tasks that we’ve completed. So here’s a question: At the end of your life would you rather have accomplished a great amount of tasks, but not have been present enough for them to enjoy them or have accomplished less, but really enjoyed the moments of your life?
If you would rather have enjoyed the moment of your life, then you’re with me and you probably want to make some changes. I may have stopped planning out my day, but I am still a planner. I love STEPS, game plans, all of that. So here is a plan (or a few steps) that we can take to stop rushing, rushing, rushing and start enjoying.
1. Breathe (seriously)
I know this one is annoying and may seem unhelpful because we see it all the time in cheesy movies and our friends say it to us as a joke when they think we need to calm down, BUT it really works. Taking ten mindful breaths while actually counting to ten, even if it doesn’t feel like it’s doing anything, can really help to bring us back to the present moment.
2. Look around you
Become mindful of the task that you’re doing right now. Notice the world around you. Are you outside on a sunny beach? In line at the local coffee shop? What is happening right now in your life? What smells and sounds do you notice? Stop thinking about other things and just live in the present moment. Worrying or overthinking doesn’t help any situations. Give your complete focus to whatever it is that you’re doing right now and just enjoy this moment because you won’t ever get it back.
3. What’s important?
Ask yourself this question every day. What’s important to you? Do you really care if you don’t answer all of your emails today? Find out what matters to you and make that you’re priority every day. For me, writing is important. I need to find time to do it every day even if that means putting off other tasks. I want to enjoy my day, which means I am always going to make time for what makes me most happy.
4. Reflect
At the end of the day ask yourself, how was my day? Try to find at least one thing that made today meaningful. Did you help someone in some way? Did you have a lot of fun doing something? Did you make time to do something that brings you joy? Did you have a great conversation with someone? If you can’t find one thing that made your day meaningful, you probably need to go back to step number three and ask yourself what’s important to me? The more that you reflect and apply this knowledge, the more significance and meaning that you will bring into each and every one of your days.
“It is not the length of life, but the depth.”