This is a phrase I have been repeating recently, as my current situation has not been so awesome.
Working long hours with no days off for several weeks: I can’t wait until I get some time off at the end of the year!
Faced with obscure tournaments or–gasp!–reruns on the Tennis Channel in December: I can’t wait until the Australian Open in mid-January!
Closing a book by a favorite author (especially if a cliff-hanger is involved): I can’t wait until the next book comes out!
Despite the fact that I am very much looking forward to these events, I try to remind myself that living in these difficult, or boring, or tedious days is a privilege that many of my patients wished they could have more of. That, at my age, accelerating time isn’t necessarily a great thing.
So I keep reminding myself that I shouldn’t wish my life away.
Mr. PiN notes that I had used to say this a lot several years ago.
I think it was when I first discovered the concept of financial independence/retire early (FIRE).
I would walk in the neighborhood, mentally calculating when we could have the mortgage paid off; or how long it would take to reach “our number” (the net worth number at which I would feel comfortable retiring).
Sometimes, by the 3rd or 5th day of the month, when all the bills had been paid and our checking account was again on the low side, I would feel impatient for the next pay day, the next infusion of cash into investments and mortgage pay down. One step closer to freedom.
I wasn’t always happy in those years, but now I look back and think: they were full of wonderful things.
Our parents were younger, and healthier. We were younger and healthier. I had more energy. My niece and nephews were showing up in our lives (I love babies, especially when they aren’t my responsibility). We had amazing trips abroad, never dreaming that a world-wide pandemic would make this basically impossible for several years (at least).
I am working hard, once again, to live in today. My time off at the end of the year has come and gone (it was boring, but great). The Australian Open should be on-going by the time this posts. I will work on finding new great books to feed my imagination until the anticipated new ones are published.
I am still planning for tomorrow. I want to be able to move well, and travel, and eventually feel comfortable enough financially that I no longer feel that I have to go to work. I might even retire early.
But I also want to make this time, this now, something I appreciate. I’m reminded of the refrain from Joni Mitchell’s song Big Yellow Taxi: Don’t it always seem to go/You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.
You don’t want to wish your life away.
What do you do to appreciate where you are now? Any book recommendations to get me through Winter?