BLISSFUL THINKING

Survival isn’t easy. Look all around you. People in pain, distress, and discomfort. Everyone’s got something to complain about. Financial hardship. Health concerns. Anxiety. Depression. Stress. Some people can’t find work. Others work too much and it’s killing them. How did we end up such a mess?

You don’t realize it when you’re a kid, but life is suffering. And as you get older, you start to realize how much life sucks. Look at kids – wide-eyed and optimistic. Happy. Laughing. Smiling. They’re simply content to be. Then look at old people. Their faces show a lifetime of broken dreams, failed relationships, lost loved ones, and debilitating maladies. That’s not to say they haven’t lived fulfilling lives - but they’ve definitely lived. They understand life’s limitations. They know they’ll never golf on the moon. A child doesn’t know this.

When you’re a child, anything is possible. Everything is possible. You can be anything. You can do anything. You can go anywhere. Hell, I was still holding onto these hopes as late as college. Then you start a career, put a mortgage on your back, and start losing your hair. Suddenly your life starts to take shape and all of those childhood dreams fade like chalk marks in the rain. All of those naïve beliefs about the world being your oyster sink to the bottom of the sea of reality. You're stuck here - better make the best of it.

I suppose that’s part of the beauty of having children. You get to live again through them – filling their hopeful hearts with the stuff dreams are made of. You can feel their enthusiasm for the simplest of life’s surprises, like how the buttons light up on the elevator. Or how dogs run around jamming their snouts into the rectums of other dogs. (I actually still get a kick out of that, but that says more about me I think)

I think back to when I was young. Every day had potential back then. And everything was fun – except maybe the first day of school and trips to the dentist. I didn’t know what “needs” were, or that all of mine were being met by someone who loved me more than anything. I just woke up every day and did whatever was planned for me that day. School again? Day camp? Grandma’s house? Okay!

I really didn’t have much of a choice back then, but part of being a kid is making the very best out of every situation because there’s no tomorrow. There’s only right now. We forget this as we get older. We start living more in the past and the future, at the expense of living right now. We dwell on yesterday and worry about tomorrow. Meanwhile, we forget to appreciate that there is peace and joy in every breath if we just take a second to notice. Kids notice because they’re not consumed by tomorrow and yesterday as we are. Ah yes, to be young again.

These days I have more choices than I know what to do with, but perhaps ironically feel less free. I recognize the costs associated with doing things. How long is that going to take? How much dough will that set me back? Will they be mad at me if I do this? Everything we do has a price – every action a consequence. Little kids don’t worry about time, money, or consequences. They just do what comes naturally. And they’re excused because they don’t know any better. As adults, we’re expected to know better. But knowing better sucks - Ignorance truly is bliss.

Survival isn’t easy. Everyone’s got something to complain about. Financial hardship. Health concerns. Anxiety. Depression. Stress. I say forget all that. You’re here. You made it to the big show. So just sit back and enjoy the performance of a lifetime - yours.