I've about had it with people telling me what time it is! Yes, I know that recently turning 39 means that (que dramatic music now) 40 is just around the corner. I know that Halloween is the next big holiday, followed by Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and what-are-you-going-to-do-to-prepare-for-40 resolutions. I know fall is coming, a mid-term election is coming, license renewals are coming , and then winter is coming (is anybody else hearing the theme song for Game of Thrones in their head right now?). All this I know.
And all this I do not give a crap about.
One of the nuggets of wisdom my grandfather passed on to me as a child was to not wish my life away. "People are always wishing for the next thing to hurry up and get here, and then they get older and wish they had all that time they wished away back." Even at 10 and 11 years old, that advice held merit to me. I got it. Now I look around, and it seems that we, as a society, are obsessed with time - or rather, how much or how little of it we think we have. This has been confirmed many times over just this weekend, from Halloween decorations in stores, to people walking around in shorts and fur-lined boots (it seems they can't wait to show off that smashing winter wardrobe), to an article I just read on 4 Ways to Defy Your Age. It's a good article, but 4 ways? I'll give you 3, and they're the title of this entry:
1. Shoot the clock. You control your schedule. If you're a slave to it, things are backwards and you need to take dominion over it.
2. Burn the calender. Stop obsession over how old you are. Your age is nothing more than a point of reference to how long you've been on this rock hurling through space. Setting goals, expectations, and limitations based on your age (current or impending) is unnecessarily fencing yourself in. You'll be in a box when you're dead. Why do you want to live in one of your own making?
3. Live already. If you woke up this morning, there's hope. If you woke up healthy and/or able to function, there's more hope. For goodness sake, take the blessings you have, give thanks for them, and work them!
Maybe it's because I faced death twice in a five month period, but I'm really fed up with the fears and limitations people put on themselves based on time and my patience for that crap is gone. Where I live, it's still summer. Maybe the fur lined boots with shorts are appropriate in San Francisco, but in Columbia, South Carolina, where it's 90 degrees with 90 percent humidity - no. It's still summer. It's the peak of it, and we have about another month to go before we even think about things like socks and long sleeve shirts. Forget fall! Why can't we enjoy what's left of summer? Sure, I'd like for the mercury to drop about 20 degrees, and sometimes in September we are graced with those hints of fall - but why wish it away? We'll be trapped inside with sunrise at 8 a.m. and sunset at 5 p.m. before you know it, and then we'll whine for spring.
When I first got the idea for the concept to The Earthside Trilogy, I did have a moment of doubt about my ability to write a series of three books But it was just a moment because I realized that I'm probably going to write a lot more than three books before I leave this Earth, so what difference does it make if they're part of a series? And with that, off I went.
I'm not saying that everybody needs to be like me because goodness knows, the world doesn't need that. But maybe more of us do need to get over our obsession with time and wishing our lives away. It's a waste, really, when you could spend that time doing other things, like enjoying where you are in life right now.
That's all today. Take care, and have a great week.
Bye!
And all this I do not give a crap about.
One of the nuggets of wisdom my grandfather passed on to me as a child was to not wish my life away. "People are always wishing for the next thing to hurry up and get here, and then they get older and wish they had all that time they wished away back." Even at 10 and 11 years old, that advice held merit to me. I got it. Now I look around, and it seems that we, as a society, are obsessed with time - or rather, how much or how little of it we think we have. This has been confirmed many times over just this weekend, from Halloween decorations in stores, to people walking around in shorts and fur-lined boots (it seems they can't wait to show off that smashing winter wardrobe), to an article I just read on 4 Ways to Defy Your Age. It's a good article, but 4 ways? I'll give you 3, and they're the title of this entry:
1. Shoot the clock. You control your schedule. If you're a slave to it, things are backwards and you need to take dominion over it.
2. Burn the calender. Stop obsession over how old you are. Your age is nothing more than a point of reference to how long you've been on this rock hurling through space. Setting goals, expectations, and limitations based on your age (current or impending) is unnecessarily fencing yourself in. You'll be in a box when you're dead. Why do you want to live in one of your own making?
3. Live already. If you woke up this morning, there's hope. If you woke up healthy and/or able to function, there's more hope. For goodness sake, take the blessings you have, give thanks for them, and work them!
Maybe it's because I faced death twice in a five month period, but I'm really fed up with the fears and limitations people put on themselves based on time and my patience for that crap is gone. Where I live, it's still summer. Maybe the fur lined boots with shorts are appropriate in San Francisco, but in Columbia, South Carolina, where it's 90 degrees with 90 percent humidity - no. It's still summer. It's the peak of it, and we have about another month to go before we even think about things like socks and long sleeve shirts. Forget fall! Why can't we enjoy what's left of summer? Sure, I'd like for the mercury to drop about 20 degrees, and sometimes in September we are graced with those hints of fall - but why wish it away? We'll be trapped inside with sunrise at 8 a.m. and sunset at 5 p.m. before you know it, and then we'll whine for spring.
When I first got the idea for the concept to The Earthside Trilogy, I did have a moment of doubt about my ability to write a series of three books But it was just a moment because I realized that I'm probably going to write a lot more than three books before I leave this Earth, so what difference does it make if they're part of a series? And with that, off I went.
I'm not saying that everybody needs to be like me because goodness knows, the world doesn't need that. But maybe more of us do need to get over our obsession with time and wishing our lives away. It's a waste, really, when you could spend that time doing other things, like enjoying where you are in life right now.
That's all today. Take care, and have a great week.
Bye!
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