“We are always getting ready to live, but never living.”
I just read this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson and was really struck by its meaning. I read it several times until it sunk in…and I realized that most of us are doing this every single day. We plan, we plot, and we say “I will do that when I ….”. But are we doing all that ‘getting ready’ and missing out on the bigger picture – this is life, and this is it. You get one shot, one go ’round, one chance. And if you are always busy thinking about tomorrow, you are truly missing out on today.
I am just as guilty as the next person of this behavior, but I am doing my best to change it. I am trying harder to live in the moment, to not think the house has to be cleaned every day, to be OK with taking a nap in the middle of the day. Sometimes, there really isn’t anywhere or anything that you should be doing. It’s a hard feeling to accept, as we are bred to always be looking to the next thing that needs to be done…but if you are always too busy getting ready to live, you might be missing out on actually living.
Don’t let that be you. Live. Laugh. Love. Don’t miss it because you were too busy planning for tomorrow.
Good advice. I think that the older I get the more I realize how very precious time is, and how much I want to truly enjoy every minute now !
You hit the nail right on the head. This is so me and something I’m striving to rectify this year. Thanks for the post!
Thank you for all the wisdom you send us all. I don’t make so many plans now because last Christmas Eve I slipped on black ice and fractured my wrist and elbow and ended up in hospital having titanium plates in both. All my Christmas plans were put on hold and apart from the pain I didn’t feel frustrated at all. The staff in the hospital did everything possible to make my stay o.k. The plans that I do make are fluid now!!