Before The Sun Sets...

 

Hi!

When we were children, each day felt new, we jumped from our slumber eager to see what the grown-ups in our lives had planned for us. When we enter the educational system, at least where I live, routine becomes just that. Everything is planned for you, the time you get up, the food you eat, when you eat it...if we are very lucky, no decisions of any real consequence are needed from us just yet.

Our preschool freedoms become stripped-down, condensed, and squeezed to fit into school breaks, now accompanied by a sprinkling of chores and responsibility. The high school days we longed for/dreaded seemingly drag, but when complete, we get to look back and recognize them for the blink they were. 

Then we become adults. Some continue in their academics, others jump right into the 9-5, yet others... explore.

We become busy, now making those crucial decisions almost every single day, we get married... or not... we become parents... or not... no matter how we spend our adulthood every lane has at least this one thing in common...

Before the sun sets this... this... and this... need to get done. Garbage needs taking out, meals need to happen, bills need paying, toilets need scrubbing, laundry is a neverending relentless beast, relationships need nurturing... We continually try to make it seem like we know what we are doing... after all we have the photos all over social media proving just that... don't we?... don't we??? We do so, fooling most everyone... but ourselves.

A sense of overwhelm becomes the normal we learn to live with. It truly is amazing what you can get used to.

Before the sun sets, we do our best, but inevitably, there is always at least one thing... that thing that didn't get done, and that will be what we beat ourselves up about while we struggle to get to sleep at night. Not all the things we DID do, but the thing or things that didn't make it.

Time passes, and life progresses, whether or not we accomplish all of the things. And, as life would have it, barely anything turns out the way we thought it would, we end up going down paths we didn't know existed, curve balls are thrown... hard... good things, bad things, seemingly impossible things happen, creating detours, sometimes permanently altering our trajectory.

Not that that is necessarily a bad thing. Most times, I believe, it's the curve balls and detours that lead us to exactly where we are supposed to be. 

As time passes, perspective shifts, and what we want to accomplish before the sun sets becomes a bit less about what we want to do, and more about how we want to feel.  

The overwhelm gets old, the chasing of the tail gets stale, the juggling becomes pretty exhausting, and we start fantasizing about a feeling of real and actual peace. 

We get spoonfed from childhood that ambition, drive, and the accumulation of stuff is what we have to strive for, if we don't, we are lazy, unmotivated. Do I believe each of us needs to support ourselves financially to the best of our ability? Absolutely, and for the most part, most people like the sense of accomplishment that comes from doing just that. But not everyone is built, wired, or has the natural talent to accumulate. Some are wired more for giving than getting, and some can do both successfully. Some walk through the world covered in butterflies and rainbows and simply don't see the point of stock-piling stuff. Some like the security that comes with big bank accounts, and some live by the seats of their pants, content with having their basic needs met. Some love the adrenaline rush of chasing the brass ring, while others like to float along covering their needs as they go. Yet others have the want to, the work ethic, all the things, but are unable to physically make it happen despite their herculean efforts.

Before the sun sets... we want serenity. I think that's fairly universal. I just think that serenity is defined differently depending on how you are wired. 

As humans, time is our only commodity. We exchange it for what matters most to us. What that is, will, and should be different for everyone. No matter how hard I try, I can't possibly know for sure what brings someone else peace. I can guess, I can surmise, I can assume, but that's it. 

Before the sun sets... find a piece of peace for yourself... even if it's small... for now.

This will read very differently depending on the Country and Culture in which you spend your time. Unfortunately, I can only give the perspective from the life I live, and where I live it. Cultures are unique by nature and therefore, define success differently. As technology has thrived, spreading pretty much worldwide, I hope we can share our good habits instead of our bad. 

I would love to tap into social media and see more good deed hacks than greed hacks. Less effort put into the buying and selling of stuff, more put into helping those who have it rough. Fewer photos through perceived perfection filters, more emphasis put the beauty of what's real, less on fillers. 

Before the sun sets we need to find, accept, then learn to love unconditionally, our entire, authentic selves. then allow ourselves to flourish, joyfully, and completely, in the absolute comfort that can come from being swaddled within our own skin. If we give ourselves permission to do so. 

Before the sun sets... breathe.