I look at kids differently now. Not in a creepy kind of way, but with an air of… nostalgia.

Life really does go on.

I know this sounds a bit solemn, but these days I have been coming to terms with my own insignificance. The world does not revolve around me. Life exists as it did long before I got here, just the same as it will long after I’m gone.

They say no one gets out of this thing alive and that we should all stop taking ourselves so seriously. Whatever you do or don’t believe in, whatever doubts or questions you might have, we all can agree on one thing: this life we’re living, it will end. You’d think that’d make you want to believe in something. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

This post isn’t intended to be a religious one, but I must say it does blow my mind that with all the unknowns in this universe some are so self-assured to think that they have it all figured out, concluding that nothing exists at all beyond what we can see. The microscopic world is invisible to the naked eye, but we understand that it’s there. There are galaxies that are so far away that even our most advanced equipment and skilled astronauts cannot reach, but most of us don’t go around debating that our Milky Way is all that there is. There’s so much that we don’t have access to.

We as humans—no matter how great we think we are—are limited. We don’t even know what exists at the bottom of our deepest oceans. We accept that when we look at the stars we’re only catching glimpses of images from the past that took light-years to reach us. Even the concept of conception is beyond me. My medical training has taught me about organogenesis and the psychology of our emotional development, but it doesn’t explain life itself. What does it mean anyway, to be…alive? 

We don’t know everything.

So how dare we be so arrogant to think that nothing else exists at all just because our minds are too small to fully grasp that which we cannot see? All things that have mass and take up space are matter, sure. But I’ve got one statement in response to the Big Bang theory: science cannot explain the origin of consciousness. *drops mic*

So, with all that is unknown to mankind, why is the existence of a spiritual world such an outlandish concept? And they say WE’RE the crazy ones. Okay.

Sorry ya’ll. Major tangent. I digress.

The purpose in this post isn’t to pick apart our differences in beliefs, but rather to get us to focus on the one thing that we can all agree on. We get this life, and it’s up to us to determine how to live in it.

So, these days, when I see babies I no longer gush at them and keep it pushing. More recently… I linger a bit. After the gushing, of course. That same baby will go through the same phases of life that we all have managed to navigate. It’ll fall in love and make friends. It’ll have hopes, dreams and fears. And, it may end up producing more life one day. The Lion King was onto something when it pushed the idea of this all being one big circle of life. It’s a cycle. An endearing, inspired, unpredictable roller coaster of highs and lows. We’re lucky to experience it at all. We get to exist. And, while we’re existing, we’re each the center of our own universe; the protagonist in our own life stories.

All we really have are moments.

If I asked you what you had for breakfast November 1st, 2009, would you be able to tell me? You don’t remember every single thing that happened in 2005 or in the 9th grade, do you? You only have a handful of memories that come to mind for either of those periods of time. For better or for worse, your mind has selectively remembered just a few moments. And, it’s even more interesting if we analyze what it is that we do remember.

Really, I’m curious, what ARE those moments for you?

Next time you’re upset that the vending machine got stuck and took your last quarter, or you’re pissed at that person who cut you off on the road when you were running late somewhere, ask yourself if this will be the moment you remember in 10 years. Even I don’t remember every single moment of every single day of last year. Heck, I don’t remember every single moment of every single day of last month! I think we could all use a lesson in not letting small inconveniences take up more mental space and energy than they should.

It’s not going to matter, literally, at the end of your day.

Unfortunately, I do this thing where I let one or two bad moments ruin my entire memory of an event. I’m trying to change that. I’ve ruined perfectly good outings because I was so fixated on the poor customer service, some person’s bad attitude or one inconsiderate comment. Now, that’s ALL I can remember, when I’d much rather have eternally stored the small, but beautiful moments I’ll never get back with the people I care about. Regardless of if those people are still around to make new memories with or not, every moment counts. Tomorrow isn’t promised. And, even the new memories that have yet to be made will eventually and inevitably just become more moments that may wind up lost in time.

Time keeps pressing forward and it stops for no one.

That’s why I want to document those smaller moments as they happen, to supplement our mind’s selective memory. Hence, the travel section of my blog. (More there soon.)

Ask yourself, was last week “terrible” enough for you to remember it this time next year? Is this “bad day” one serious enough to remember when you’re 85?

Nah. Probably not.

Be careful of which moments you lend your energy to, because we don’t have control over which moments our minds will choose to remember over others.

I want to collect as many good memories as possible. I’d rather override the bad with good than to have it happen the other way around. Seeing kids and babies be so carefree, oblivious to what they’ll face in their entire lives ahead of them, makes me cherish the present moment even more.

It’s truly all we have.

The spouse will come. The family will come. The dream job, the dream life, it will come. But, all you have is right now. Rest in that.

After all, the future is just another day like today.

The freedom you used to dream of when you were younger, you have it. That first car you begged for, you got it. All the things you once wished for are now yours. But, now you have new responsibilities that you didn’t have back then. Now you understand with a bit more clarity why elders would say, “Enjoy being a kid.”

So, enjoy being a young adult and not having it all figured out. Because when you do have all the things you’re wishing for, nothing will ever be like it is now. Enjoy your singleness. Enjoy your spouse. Enjoy your eight-year-old bugging you about whatever it is the kids are into these days. You’ll never have those moments back, so stop rushing them away.

Cherish living in that tiny dorm room. Enjoy those last few years of working before retirement. Live each moment as it comes, and stop peeking at the next chapter. You don’t know who only exists in the one you’re living in right now.

If you asked me how I came into 2019, I’d say I came in guns blazing, questioning why nothing was happening on my perceived timeline. I only reached a space of full contentment when I let my timeline go.

Trusting in God’s plan and purpose is where true peace is found.

When you let The Author write, you’re free to …play. ♡

What moments do you want to remember from this chapter of your life?