One morning this week on my way to work I got stuck behind a logging truck. Traffic was bad so I couldn’t pass and the truck seemed determined to find out how slow it could go before the trees stacked in the back would re-grow roots. I clenched the steering wheel and kept darting glances in the rear view mirror to see if traffic would break and I could get around. I was grinding down a few valuable millimeters of tooth enamel when suddenly it occurred to me- I was rushing to get to work. Heck, it wasn’t like I was rushing to get someplace good. It was work. As soon as I got to the office I would be wishing I was out, so why the hurry to get there? I took a deep breath, turned up the radio and decided to enjoy the ride. There’s nothing like singing Abba tunes at the top of your lungs to pick up an otherwise boring morning.
Jennifer posted this week about rushing to the end. I have a tendency to do that and not just with my writing. Too often I’m in a huge hurry to cross the next item off my to-do list. I get so busy with the idea of finishing I forget to enjoy the process of getting there. I convince myself that the next project (whatever it might be) will certainly be more interesting than the project I’m on right now. I suspect this is due to a number of things, not the least that I can tell myself that I won’t screw up the new project.
One of my goals is to learn to start enjoying the ride and not just the destination. As opposed to my usual beating my head on the desk trying to figure out how my current magna opus is going to end, I’m going to enjoy writing it and seeing how the characters grow and change. I’m going to start spending less time at the office and more time singing Abba in the car. In the end, I think it is the simple things we enjoy most, warm snuggly dogs, a hug at the end of a long day, a phone call from a good friend and cookies right out of the oven. Instead of spreading the joy out between major events, I think it’s time we started finding it in the everyday.
What is one simple thing you enjoy?
Be careful what you wish for Eileen! You might turn out like me – sooo bogged down in enjoying the journey that there is in fact no destination in sight!
My latest hobby is baking bread using ancient recipes that take a WHOLE DAY to make one loaf. Oh, I suppose you could make more than one loaf at a time? But that sounds too much like rushing it to me.
This is one of those answers that used to make me roll my eyes when other people said it, but it’s true: just being with my husband and kids.
I agree with Mia–it sounds so cliched, but it’s still true. Here are some other simple things I love: Ithe first cup of coffee in the morning, watching my dog greet my son, sitting on my front porch and having friends stop by, really good blueberry pancakes.
I’m right there with Judy and Mia. There are no other people in the world I could imagine wanting to spend as much time with as my family. other things? That first cup of coffee is Nirvana, my puppy greeting anyone (my puppy doing anything really), sitting at my desk and writing a beautiful line, hearing my favorite song, talking to my husband late into the night, having all the kids in the neighborhood at my house, cook outs with everyone invited, reading the last page of an amazing book. As Mia would say, good things.
I think I generally live in the moment, but sometimes my cats remind me when I’m not. They want attention and I’m busy cooking or working or whatever. Then I look down at them and realize that if I brush them for five minutes, we’ll all be happier.
Every night when we get into bed, one of us says to the to the other, “Ahhh…this is the best part of the day. Except for all the other best parts.”
As most of you know, I enjoy and do a fairly decent job of living in the moment…yet one of the simple and best parts of the day is making my blog tour and definitely coming here. I know that the end of this season’s Debutante Ball is coming all too soon, but — in the meantime — I’m savoring every last word!
Bookstores and everything that is inside of them. That is one simple thing I love.
Agreeing with Manic Mom. BOOKS! I’ve read seven in the past two weeks. And it’s not one genre or another, I mean, Monday and Tuesday it was Jerry Spinelli’s Stargirl and Now I’m about to finish Brave New World 9it’s a wonder I’ve never read it before) and then, of course, tomorrow I’ll have a ripe, thick volume of brand new magic ready for me new leap right into.