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Thursday, July 29th, 2010 - 05:30:36
Do you remember those days? C’mon sure you do. I bet you said that too! When you’re young and carefree you long to be old and responsible. I wish I was 18 so I could stay out late! The dreams of ‘no curfew’, I used to think. Or how about drinking age or driving age. Can’t wait until I’m 18 and then I will make my own rules, I thought.
Then 18, rolled around, and I wished I was 25. Yes, I would be done university and making the bucks, I thought. Then when you’re 25, life changes again. You are always wishing for something that you can’t have. Wishing one step ahead of you. Some say don’t wish your life away. But we’ve all been young, and we’ve all had dreams of ‘you just wait ‘til I’m older.’
Now I’m going through it with my kids! ‘ I can’t wait ‘til I get my driver’s license’, Spencer says. And we cringe. The anxiety of all parents with teenagers I suppose. ‘I can’t wait ‘til I’m in highschool’, Chloe says. Again, I think, ‘don’t wish your life away’. Kids always want to be older. Society dictates that.
Drinking age, driving age, voting age, etc. Normally you want things you can’t have. Then when you’re there, you wish for something else. I guess now that we’re middle aged, we can sit back and enjoy the moment. Somehow we have learned that the best place to be, is the present.
You tend to appreciate things the way they are. Yup. Don’t wish for the past nor the future. Take things as they come. Age really is ‘mind over matter’. ‘If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.’ We are all young at heart, or should be. When things get tough, we need to have the simplicity of viewing life from a child’s eye. See things in a different light. Sit back and take a breather, like my kids say. Don’t try and figure it all , all at once. Just live in the moment.
You’re only old, when you think you are. You remain young at heart, if you choose to be. Think about it. My mother was always responsible. My father was always carefree. Neither quality was good or bad in itself. When you’re young, you long to be different than your parents. ‘I’m not going to be that strict with my kids when I have them’, I once thought. And then when you’re a parent, suddenly responsibility clicks in. Maybe it’s because you’re young enough to remember what you were like as a teenager, and old enough to prevent that behaviour from your kids. Or at least, relate.
Yup, now we wish we were kids. The days when we don’t want the responsibility. With growing up, comes mortgages, bills, kids, and also the freedom to live your life the way you want. Sometimes I wish we could freeze frame the moment in time. Pick and choose the moments of great happiness in childhood and live it for a day, and then go on to the next happiest moment. But life isn’t like that. You learn as you grow, you can create your own inner peace. You can be young at heart.
You learn to accept life at all stages of the game. You learn to take time out of your busy day, to enjoy the moment. Because in reality, you can never come back to this present moment. There’s no such thing as ‘freeze framing the moment’. We can’t pause or replay the tape again. We try to tell the kids this, so they don’t wish their lives away. How important it is, to live within the moment. Enjoy each day. No regrets, just memories. No anticipations, just blue sky. When we were young, we had no clue of limitations. Maybe that’s for the better. Perhaps that’s the lesson I’ll learn in the next decade.
For now, I do know one thing. I enjoy living in the moment. Present, is where I want to be. Not worrying about the past, or planning for the future. Living in the moment.
Try it, you’ll see what I mean.
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