This entry is dedicated to my dear editing partner Sarah. Long live Style and Usage!
For this week’s “The Way I See It” theme of Simplicity, I want to share a “This I Believe” essay I wrote for one of my writing classes in college. _________________________________________________________________
I believe in being present.
Sometimes I feel as though I am being assaulted by what Charles Hummel calls The Tyranny of the Urgent. A quick trip to the grocery store turns into a lengthy deliberation over mint varieties in toothpastes and fruit combinations in juices. The stinging urgency of an incoming text message demands my attention, interrupting a dinner conversation with a friend. A blank computer document fills with my need to check e-mails, Facebook messages, blog posts. I cut people off in conversation with my racing thoughts, I cut people off in traffic with my racing car. Trivialities and distractions flash in front of me like flickering fireflies and my attention floats off with them. I believe in shooing away the fireflies; I believe in being present in each moment.
Sometimes life can seem like a shopping mall where every moment is on a two-for-one clearance special. Two activities can be done simultaneously, bought for the price of one moment. Yet, for all the productivity gained by multi-tasking, I believe there is still a cost: the discounting of life. The words of friends, the rustling of leaves, the blank page inviting the telling of story: these details constantly whisper to me, encouraging me to embrace life, to seize the moment. Yet, I often miss these opportunities as I furrow a frustrated brow, weighing the health benefits of buying pomegranate cranberry juice over apple juice; as I answer text messages and check e-mails; as I am so eager to share my own thoughts in conversation that I am unable to actually listen to the other person.
Trivialities and distractions break into the moments of life, stealing the richness of each one. I do not want the sum of my life to be a beggar’s standard of living; I do not want to be buried in an empty tomb haunted by flickering flies carrying off stolen moments on their wings. No, I want my life’s worth to be a treasure trove of relationships and experiences embraced in each moment. I believe in turning off the cell phone, shutting down the computer, shooing away the fireflies; I believe in being present to the task at hand, embracing who or what stands before me in the moment.
H/T Close to Home
So beautifully and eloquently said! These lines especially have got me thinking:
“Sometimes life can seem like a shopping mall where every moment is on a two-for-one clearance special. Two activities can be done simultaneously, bought for the price of one moment. Yet, for all the productivity gained by multi-tasking, I believe there is still a cost: the discounting of life.”
I am guilty of this as well. Thank you for the wake up call!
The discounting of life…yes. I agree. I appreciate your words very much.
With thanks,
Diane
Oh, long live Style and Usage! Haha, so great. However, we must instead be present in this moment–which does not include Style and Usage. What will we do with it? As I mentioned in my last comment–this includes my decision to not work during grad school. I feel that I’ve missed much richness in last couple of years. However, I’ve grown so much because of the pressure and time-crunch. I’m amazed at how much better I can write within five minutes of a deadline. Yet I miss the richness of the experience of learning and expressing.
So what are we going to do with this moment? Life is still just as short as it always was, and life is still a matter of selection. This is part of my Facebook boycott–I cannot be available to that many people, I can only be present to the people in my life at one time. I must undertake selective relationship building–as painful as that is. It seems like I am missing out, but what I am missing is only a discounted version of life.
Yes, I over think things. It’s just what I do–haha.
Oh, and I’m honored that you’ve dedicated a post to me–a post so potent such as this one. And cheers to wherever the present moment will bring us.