For the longest time, I used to say: "I don't have time to do this or that..." . How many of us say that a lot? "I don't have enough time to cook, to read, to eat. If I only had time..."
Now we have a lot of time, and I see people trying to fill it with the same things that used to rob them their time from doing something else. Or trying to do the same things, the same way they used to do when they could be doing differently.
Yes, keeping a routine may bring a sense of security. But it also can bring a feeling of boredom... and eventually stress.
A Brazilian song comes to mind out of nowhere... a song called Nuvem Passageira by Hermes Aquino. In Portuguese: "... voice não vê que a vida corre contra o tempo? sou um castelo de areia na beira do mar...". In English:" ...Don't you see that life is running against time? I'm a sand castle on the sea shore...".
There are times that it feels like time stops and life sits still. Inside that time frame I could live an eternity. Pure happiness happens in a fraction of time. We try to hold on to it. But somehow it dissolves and leaves us with a sweet taste, a memory that brings a smile, a tingling, or even makes us close our eyes and we try so desperately to go back in time. But it's gone.
Often, times seem to disappear. One second it's 5am, and all of a sudden is 10pm. We feel disappointed, sometimes angry for being robbed again. We are left with the feeling of amnesia or something like that. We just lost a day of our lives. sometimes it happens a lot. And we are constantly being depleted of living.
However, there are other times that we are happy that the time disappears. We are happy that the hours pass so fast. We can't wait to get to the next day and do it all over again.
On the opposite side, because there is always a flip side, there are times when each minute seems like an entire hour or two. Days are as long as years. We feel miserable!
I could go on and on... But you know as well as I do, that the clock measures time the same way everyday. Each hour has 60 minutes, each minute has 60 seconds, and so on. We depend on things that happen to us to feel time. No, we are addicted to everything outside ourselves to feel happy, sad, everything in between, and to feel time. Can we really feel time?
We live in a brand new situation for this generation. We don't know how to live in this time. We are getting frantic, scared, bored. What I see the most is the need to continue to do things the same way as before. It'll eventually cause boredom and frustration. It's a new situation. Yes, it's unknown and it's scary. If trying to keep an old routine helps, go ahead. What I see is an opportunity. An opportunity to self discovery and to self care. To look in, so you can understand what's out.
For some of us, careers are involved in following direction all the time. Now would be a good time to hear your own voice. Some of us are accustomed to repetition. Well, now you have an invitation to variety.
I keep hearing this phrase over and over:" Let's keep positive!" . What is positivity anyway? I asked a couple of people and they were not very convinced that they really knew what it was.
Positivity: "The practice of being or tendency to be positive or optimistic in attitude".
So? Here is what I think about being positive: It's to be curious! Interested in anything and everything. It's to believe in possibilities and different outcomes. It is to trust that there is a way out, in, thru, around, under or above. Curiosity promotes creativity, and creativity promotes problem solving.
So, being positive in this time, where things are very confusing and feelings are all over the place, be curious! If you catch yourself bored, look around and try to see things from a different perspective. Discover new ways of doing the same things. learn something different online, Cook something new, or better, start cooking healthy. What's inside those boxes in the garage?
But also, be curious about friends and family you haven't seen in a long time. Now would be a good time to reconnect. Spend time discovering what makes your heart jump, what brings a smile to your face. Now is the time. Go for it!
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