The other day, as I was slowly entering the highway in rush-hour traffic, I noticed a fly on my windshield. He had landed while I was at the stoplight, and as I accelerated, he tried valiantly to hold on. His body was pushed towards the roof of the car as his little legs gripped with all their might to the windshield. Realizing the inevitable, I found myself thinking, "Just let go!"
And then I thought, how often do we cling to something we know rather than let go and enter the unknown possibilities in the future? I know I have.
We are created as "creatures of habit." We like routines. They are predictable, dependable. They bring order to our lives. But life ALWAYS throws us curve balls, things that rock our foundation and make us wonder about how we define ourselves.
The only constant in this world is change. Intellectually, I know this. But still, some part of me wants to hold on -- hold on to the sweetness of a child's laughter, hold on to the shared camaraderie with a colleague as we work on an assignment, hold on to the excitement of a new flirtation. But the child grows up and the relationship changes, the colleague moves on to a can't-pass-up opportunity, the flirtation evolves into something more or dissolves into nothing.
It's impossible to hold on to those moments. They are all fleeting. And I'm learning that to truly enjoy the moment, we have to also let go of our fears of the future when the moment is gone, and embrace whatever comes next.
4 comments:
That's the idea,Emily,to savour each moment. :)which I am sure that you do.
A.Norma.x
Great post and a very true one. Change hurts, but only if you let it. I've been desperately trying to hold on to the person i was, only to find out that my surroundings has changed and i didn't. Eventually i learned to adapt and i believe i became a wiser person. Thank you for this post.
Well said.......
Change is constant.
If you don't want change then tell your server to keep it. Otherwise welcome to life as it's lived in these parts. Nothing wrong with keeping pleasant memories or wanting to repeat pleasant experiences but it's no reason to jettison things because they might change. It's the balancing act of knowing what is a keeper and what is ephemeral despite our desires that's the hard part. I feel a pseudo profound cliche coming on so I will stop here. Sorry couldn't do it - somethings never change (bad joke intended) (in honor of your recent trip to Paris) plus ca change plus c'est la meme chose!
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