You know how when we were kids we would constantly hear from adults
“Don’t rush your youth because they are the best years of your life”
Well we couldn’t wait for high school to be over so that we could reach those college years. Summers couldn’t come fast enough because we were all so sick of studying for tests and writing ten page papers. We longed for the cold weather months and then complained it was too cold and couldn’t wait for it to heat back up. We began to believe that if this particular moment arrived we would somehow find happiness. We hoped for what was to come and not for what could come that day. Don’t get me wrong; we have made incredible memories along the way. We’ve taken in the view. We’ve made sure to have the best company by our sides.
We have laughed and loved, but somewhere and somehow that always felt like it wasn’t enough.
Because although we loved and laughed, we couldn’t wait to do those things during our month off from school or even just the small break the weekends brought. This is seen in the numerous countdowns we hold for the next big thing. We can’t wait for this or for that and the repercussions of that is sometimes we miss the endless possibilities that we were given each day until that next thing would arrive.
I’ll be honest, once I found out what my next move in life was I started a countdown. This countdown signified the number of days until my life would finally begin. But now that I’m 9,000 miles removed from my life and am living in the days since my life so called “actually began”, I find myself frequently reflecting back on those moments that I was warned not to rush.
We rush life for various reasons. Perhaps we’re walking through a rough time and can’t wait for it to end or maybe we’re looking forward to something really incredible or life changing.
Wanting to fast forward time to either escape the darkness or run into the celebration isn’t bad, but those days in between: they matter.
And we need to know that where we are is incredibly special.
That we were placed and are placed there for reasons we not know of. Where we are is an incredible place to be and I’ve realized that our lives actually began the day we were born and not on the day that we thought our lives would begin.
So don’t rush life. Those adults were right.
Look forward to the excitements of life. Hope for the darkness to subside sooner rather than later. But do so knowing that where we are is incredibly special. And has a purpose. Hope for what can come in each new day of life, and not in that next grandiose life change.
Because our lives began yesterday and where we are is incredibly special.