Thursday, December 21, 2017

Counting Moments Instead of Minutes

I've been very off track in the money and cooking front of late, and being very conscientious of time. It has dawned on me through some rough knocks on the head that the quality of a life is not measured in time, but rather how you spend whatever amount of time you are blessed to have on earth. Despite being a spiritual person that does believe in an afterlife, God, Jesus, and eternal life, I still struggle with loss of people in my life, fail to understand the purpose of hardship-natural and man made disasters, and how bad things happen repeatedly to good people, and vice versa. Still, whether I have forty years or forty minutes left in my life, I keep vowing to make them count. Writing my thoughts in the silence of the house, the glow of the lit Christmas tree, I like to ponder such things. Reflection is a good use of time, but only if I then use those thoughts to do. The doing may just be embracing the simple things even harder.

Don't we all regularly need attitude adjustments so that the unimportant and trivial do not define our lives? Tuesday, two such things happened. I'm excited for him, as DS was offered the opportunity to work on one of the big Hollywood New Year's Eve productions. This is a tremendous experience for him. Two snags though; we lose three days with him home and the change ticket costs are astronomical. Still, despite the cost, I need to appreciate that we get to have him with us for three full days and a morning. I need to appreciate that he is able to pursue, and actually can pay his bills, in a career in a very dog eat dog industry. Later in the day, DD2's violin teacher called and asked if she was coming to her lesson-20 minutes after it was supposed to start. In her head, she had the time 30 minutes late, and missed the lesson entirely as another students lesson had begun. My first impulse was to be frustrated. But really, how many times a day do I mix things up, write the wrong thing down, transpose a number? We just let it go, and I told her to send a sincere apology to her teacher, which she had already done. Instead of stressing, me and the girls had a nice night together, frustration no where in the room. 

No matter how long I live, how long my family and friends live, life is too short for worrying about the trivial. It also is too short to always make decisions based solely on the check book. Hopefully while I'm still financially saving towards goals, I don't forget that my life should be counted by my memories, not my savings account. And sometimes, those memories will be made of of moments that while shorter than I'd like, are precious and unrepeatable. 2018, my year to wake up and smell the coffee and be sure of measuring time in lived moments rather then minutes. 

8 comments:

  1. As you say, forgiving yourself over small things is key. Especially if you are typically a well organized person (I am also). I look for ways to improve, but also forgive myself when things go wrong. I like your idea of focusing on moments. I need to do more of that myself.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm less successful than I;d like aat focusing on moments. 2017 was hard for people I cre about while 2016 seemed like a personal crisis year for me. Yet, both contained a lot of wonderful things as well.

      Delete
  2. A beautifully written piece and one which everyone should read. Good for your son. Your daughter has an extremely busy life and all of us mix things up or forget, you are right, not worth stressing about. Maybe both of these things were just "meant to be".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are too many real things that are stressful. No reason to add to the fire, right?

      Delete
  3. Wonderful post and one that so many of us need to take to heart. Congrats to your son on his job! Also so great that you and your daughter were able to just let the mistake go.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope this opportunity leads to continued jobs that allows him more stability. He works very hard constantly lining up the next gig as a freelancer.

      Delete
  4. What a nice post! Two of my kids live across the country too boohoo but we want them to get those roots and then their wings. You seem like such a nice genuine person. I need to focus on the moments too- I'm 70 now and time is flying.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We can't live our kids life, right? I happy they have enough self confidence to truly leave the comfort of the nest.

      Delete

Join the conversation. Your comments are welcome. Dissenting and different opinions are welcome as makes for good conversation. I moderate comments to be sure I read them all and stay ahead of the spam. Advertising products or services without permission will be deleted, as will anything that may be harmful to others-read promotion of debunked "experts" and conspiracies. If you're a blogger, feel free to include your blog URL.