Boring Can Be Good
When you’re 16, waiting for anything is like feeling you’re going to die if it doesn’t get here now! That goes for anything - waiting for summer, your next family vacation, school to be over, learning how to drive - basically everything worth waiting for!
We pass every summer with gusto, living in the moment and not worrying about next year, let alone the next week or month. The only thing on our mind at that point is our summer plans and how long we’re going to sleep in the next day.
Somewhere along the way, things start to change. You may experience people moving away, people dying. As we age, we get wise to the ways of the world. We start to realize that every summer we have left (with our family, friends and loved ones) is dwindling away and we have fewer left to enjoy. Not only that, but we begin to experience aches and pains where there were never any before; sometimes even mobility issues. Then we start to wonder how did we even get here. In our heart, we feel like we’re still that same 16 year old kid, but we have families - responsibilities and priorities now.
If you have kids, do you ever feel like you have nothing together and everything could fall apart at any moment? I do - I ask myself all the time why it seemed like my parents had it together when I was young. You want to know the truth? They didn’t. They were just like us - hanging on by a thread and their last piece of sanity and a case of weekend beer. It was simply our perspective of youth that made us feel like they were in charge and they had all their priorities straight. I mean, sometimes they were in charge. (Haha)
As I get older, I wake up - sometimes grateful that I feel pain because it reminds me that I’m still here and I’m still alive. I feel gratitude that my kids now (hopefully) get to experience a little of what I experienced growing up - that freedom and state of euphoria that only the young can have. Sometimes I wonder though - between covid, living in a city and the internet/social media - do our kids nowadays experience that same freedom I know I once enjoyed? Maybe not entirely. Kids today are a little more aware of the world’s problems because they’re always in the face of it. (No wonder social current events gave me anxiety - I never wanted to think about the bad things that could happen in life). Maybe I was living in a bubble, I don’t know.
What I do know is now I count all the boring days. I’m grateful for them. As you get older, you realize that life is much shorter than you thought. You don’t start realizing it until middle age, but it’s there - always in the back of your mind. Your grandparents pass away, maybe a parent or an aunt or uncle and then we realize the gravity of the situation. We start to hope for the boring days and prey that nothing happens.
Even if you can’t afford to go on that vacation, or a holiday passes that you didn’t have money to celebrate - it’s ok, because at least everyone is still here; safe and healthy.
What I will tell you is enjoy your kids, take lots of pictures, live for the small moments, laugh as much as you can, have as many conversations with your parents as they’ll let you. If you can’t afford to take a big vacation, explore your town, city or area. Take your kids on road trips and get lost. The experience you’ll have together will make lasting memories for them.
Enjoy your life, count the boring days and be happy!
Until next time,
Sandra
