Living In The Moment — A Parable
This is the story of a man with a clear vision of how he wanted to live his life.
His sole focus was to be able to retire at 60, rather than 65. By cramming in as much working time as possible, he hypothesised, there would be time to claw back some extra enjoyment in his later years.
He would, therefore, live a very busy life.
At university, his friends would always extend to him their invitations to join them as they went out to drink, dance, laugh and enjoy themselves. Yet it was with a great reluctance that he would even entertain the thought. “No thanks”, he would respond, “there will be plenty of time to enjoy myself once I retire”.
For him, it was far from the traditional university experience of broadening social circles, downright irresponsible alcohol consumption and the odd trip to Accident & Emergency (perhaps that was just me?). Rather, all memories are restricted to study in the four walls of his bedroom, the four walls of the library and the four walls of the exam hall.
Upon graduating he found himself a job in the office accounts department of a local company. It was menial pay and hardly the most exciting of roles, but there was a decent career path to which he could adhere.
And so, he did. Over the course of the next 35 years of keeping his head down and performing on target, a series of promotions led him to senior management, a decent salary and a hefty retirement fund. This diligence at work and determination to retire early spilt over into his leisure time too.
He rarely took holidays, choosing instead to save his pennies, for he knew that upon retirement he would be able to travel the world. To see all the places he has dreamed of: The New Years’ firework display at the Sydney Harbour Bridge, heading on Safari in the Kenyan plains, The Grand Canyon, Niagra Falls, Machu Picchu — so many mindblowing experiences.
Despite fathering a son with his long-suffering wife, his dedication to work never faltered. The hours racked up in the office left little opportunity for quality time spent with his family. Besides, the money he was earning gave them a comfortable existence and of course, he insisted there would be “plenty of time spent together once I retire”.
His plan, it seemed, had worked. Approaching his 60th birthday he began to plan how he would spend his twilight years. So many exciting experiences upon which he was about to embark, all those years of toil and determination about to pay their dividends…or so he thought.
He died of a heart attack aged 59.
Humanity appears to have fallen into the trap of living a busy life. ‘Busyness’ is worn as some sort of badge of honour. We find ourselves participating in a surreptitious competition for bragging rights; an ongoing battle to assert that we are indeed living the busiest life compared to those of our peers.
“How are you?” one might ask. More often than not I find I’m lucky to receive anything more than a single word by way of response. “Busy”, inevitably comes the reply.
But just because we may be busy does not necessarily mean that we are on the right track for ourselves. Busyness implies either a lack of efficiency or failure to prioritise the undertaking of things that we actually enjoy in life.
Have you ever been so preoccupied with your smartphone that you reach the end of a train journey and realise that you have failed to acknowledge any of the passing scenery? Moreover, can you recall anything of significance from that journey? Perhaps you replied to some emails or habitually scrolled down your Twitter timeline gaining little more than a mild satisfaction for being “all caught up” and the early onset of a repetitive strain injury.
“Beware the barrenness of a busy life” – Socrates
Sometimes it makes sense to stop and smell the roses.
After all, life is about moments, experiences, relationships. To truly appreciate any, one must be fully present at the time, absorbing all the cues and allowing our brains to process the multitudinous stimuli that form a view of the world from our own unique perspective.
I’m not suggesting that we don’t work hard to achieve our goals, quite the opposite in fact, merely that we have no idea how long any of us has in this world, so surely it makes sense to appreciate the here and now.
I’m all for delayed gratification — working hard in the present and holding out for greater rewards in the future is a sensible strategy to live by career-wise. Our careers, however, are not the be-all and end-all of life. There’s so much more to appreciate about our existence. The problem arises when we focus ourselves too much on our future at the expense of the here and now.
So maybe take your foot off the gas every now and then. Slow down, switch off and tune in to your surroundings. Appreciate every moment you spend with your friends and family, for somewhere a clock is ticking and one day the alarm will go off.
Your biggest regrets in life will be the things you didn't do and the moments you didn’t spend with the people you love.
