Saturday, February 10, 2024

TODAY WILL NOT COME AGAIN

 

Most of us have to work for a living. If we are lucky, we find work that is meaningful, that makes the world better in some way. But for most of us, even the best job takes time away from things we care about.

I have been very lucky these past few years, because now my work is my writing, and I can do it in my own house with my wife nearby and my dogs at my feet. I choose what and when to write. Because I have the freedom to make choices about my priorities.

It is a luxury I appreciate every single day. I do not look back on my years of work as wasted. I do sometimes look back with regret, but I also know that each step I took was a step toward who I am. Besides, anyone with no regrets hasn’t been trying hard enough.

There’s an idea I try to think about every day:

One life on this earth is all we get, whether it is enough or not enough. And the obvious conclusion would seem to be that, at the very least, we are fools if we do not live it as fully, and bravely, and beautifully as we can.

No one has a perfect life. No one has a life without grief or loss. But I think happiness is about gathering in the small beauties all around us.  Right. Now. 

Today will not come again.