Have you ever had this nagging feeling of looking to a time when everything will be 'just so?' I guess the more I am on social media and the more I see the lives portrayed out there, with perfectly curated everything and happiness abounding, I sometimes then reflect...how can I get my life to be more THAT way where I can just shoot my living room with everything styled, coordinated, and with everything organized and nothing that I actually used on display but very well organized knick knacks 'just cause' showing how well the living room deals with clutter. It's like 'fake clutter'!
I'm digressing here.
But anyways, I got to this topic because, well, I can recall twice in the last few months where I had two different reactions to life. One was, 'life is perfect'. I mean I have these two little dolls who just spew the cutest things a person could ever imagine that I try to record them as much as possible so one day when I miss it I can go back and experience it all. My oldest tells me all the time 'mom, you're the best mom ever!' And I get mad at myself because it doesn't phase me, I'm just like 'that's cool, thanks!' My youngest has this like buttery milky skin and this toothy smile that just lights up my day and she says 'sandwich' like 'shamwitch'. I mean, yeah life IS perfect. A few weeks ago, I told my older one 'make sure you tell me I'm the best mom ever when you get older, ok?' She's like 'ok...sure mom, that's cool' but I know that one day I'm going to get an eye roll from her and I don't look forward to it. I really treasure this period of life they're in right now.
But then recently I had this OTHER feeling of: Wow, we have one on the way, we don't have enough space - I need to figure out how we can organize everything. We don't have good closets, we don't have enough storage, our kitchen is inefficient, we shouldn't have painted the walls colors, my countertops are no longer on trend, the flow in my kitchen is off, if only I could get everything better organized, i wish our bathtub was as big as our friends so our kids could really enjoy their baths......wouldn't it be nice to have a place that has all of that, well, then life would really be perfect! Or maybe it would be perfect if we lived in a #tinyhouse. I guess it's that nagging thought process that leads people to want to either upsize or downsize. And just all those thoughts about where you live, how you look...I'm already like 'maybe i should quit our gym and do #bbg instead. I wonder how much it costs.' I just go through these mental exercises of voting yes or no on different things and it gives me this sense that life ISN'T perfect and the worst thing about it is living for another day instead of living for RIGHT NOW!
I do think and have read that the pervasiveness of social media, the 'life in tiny squares' that looks so perfect and that requires life to be pretty darn great in every aesthetic sense, can really weigh heavily on you. Is this just #firstworldproblems? I mean, it kind of is. I definitely got a little of the holiday shopping bug and all of these little things that pass through my mind then fuel my shopping behavior. I guess that's how marketing works - you see something, you like it, and then you see a similar thing again and pretty soon, the only jeans you have have these huge rips up and down the front because those are the only cool jeans to wear! #lol
Well, I hope by reading this we can band together and stop that unproductive thought process and #becontent. Goals are definitely good to have but is life all about getting everything perfect? I think that's where the real moments are stolen from us when we spend so much time living for a reality that we haven't acheived yet. We take SO much for granted and then when something goes wrong, we can't deal. I'm just so thankful for life and want to go deeper in my day to day experience. I'm thankful that today, my youngest and I spent about 10 minutes staring into each others faces nose to nose, laughing that we were cyclops up close and cuddling together, just being silly and cherishing one another. That is something that doesn't cost anyone anything and is an instant shot of happiness. #thelittlethings
Share your latest moment of thanks with us all in the comments!
2 comments
Enjoyed reading your post. I think one of the biggest issues I see when working with clients is that they often have contentment tied to something in the future. Eg I will be content/happy when i get that new job. The way out is how you describe it in your post, be more present in life.
BTW Sounds like you love your kids a lot!
Great point! Living life and enjoying it in the moment is more important. When I was younger, I kept thinking things along that line, “when my life is [this way], everything will be in place.” As I got older, and also more recently, I realized that life is what you make it. There’s no time like the present to enjoy what you have, chase your dreams, and make your life better.