I always remind myself of this whenever I am tempted to wish my life away, which in past years was on a weekly basis (I think it was one of my favourite past times actually)!
When I think back on this it makes me sad that I didn’t or couldn’t value where I was, and what I had because I allowed external factors to rule my roost!
There are so many, maybe too many stresses and strains in daily life. They cause us all to think; ‘can’t wait until 5.00’, ‘can’t wait until later’, ‘can’t wait until weekend’. Yet, why can’t we just settle for being in the moment we inhabit for once, and accepting that?
We rarely pause, think, take stock and allow ourselves to breathe. We seem to battle against life, fear it as an enemy working against our best laid plans. It is a roller coaster we cannot control or shout out to stop it’s momentum carrying us off before we are ready.
In short; life controls us and we don’t control it.
Why are we all so uncomfortable just being?
As I was constructing this post I couldn’t help but think of this poem by William H Davies;
Leisure,
by William H Davies:
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this is if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
Its time to stand and stare people! Go on, just do it; you know you want to……………….
The Savvy Senorita 
Well, part of the problem is that we bloggers spend too much time writing and reading blogs. Seriously, this is a really important issue that I have puzzled over for years and it’s the reason I try to spend as much leisure time as possible in the wilderness. At home, or even on vacation, as long as our devices are available, it’s no longer possible to completely relax. I genuinely envy those people whom technology has just passed by, but at the same time, I don’t want to be like them, and would not trade access to the internet for …well, for virtually anything. It’s as if I choose to live a more stressful but interesting life over a calmer, less interesting one.
Humanity is transitioning to a new mode of existence with technology but I don’t know if anyone knows where it’s all going, although Ray Kurzweil has probably made the best stab to-date:
http://www.amazon.com/Age-Spiritual-Machines-Computers-Intelligence/dp/0140282025/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358217535&sr=1-2&keywords=the+age+of+intelligent+machines
If Kurzweil is right, the speed of change is going to keep on accelerating until we reach the singularity, when change is happens so fast that we lose all control of it. Doesn’t sound like we have a relaxing future ahead of us, does it?
Thanks for your considered and interesting input Malcolm. Stress and leading a hectic lifestyle is certainly the norm today. Society as we know it calls for that, to function I suppose. Time out from the world is now a thing of the past, rather like the poem ‘Leisure’! I do try to get time out as often a possible though, as you mentioned the wilderness and vacations are my favoured outlets too; although even then I feel bereaved without internet!
I just think it is a little sad that we all focus so much effort on the net, work or whatever, and feel obliged to dedicate all of ourselves to that. We often miss everything else about us – life becomes a blur. Rushing to and fro so frantically I feel we sometimes achieve very little.
However, I love having plenty to occupy my time, but I also require time to ruminate, and retreating into a good book. I always need alone time, or I would indeed become my own worst nightmare!
I shall check out your book recommendation, which raises interesting notions. By the sound of that Malcolm it seems our futures are destined to require more than the set 24 hours!
Thanks again, Bex