Trying to Fit It All In

As far as we all know, we have just one lifetime on this earth to fit it all in. If we are lucky enough to live ‘til 90 and sleep eight hours a night-we have spent 30 years in bed-so make sure you have a good mattress. So now we’re down to 60 years. Eighteen years are generally spent living under your parent’s roof and learning to be human-that brings us now to 42-not that we haven’t been living-just not autonomously. Some will go off to college, and graduate school and beyond-for maybe four to eight years and of course we’re still living but say that brings us to 36 years of doing what we are called to do or what we are passionate about doing. Some will be called to adventure, following their dreams, ecstatic living-others will play it safe and with pensions and 401k’s. Some will settle down and others won’t settle-some will marry and some never will-some will find someone to love and others will find love in what they do or who they are or their dog. Whatever your path, those choices are important, they are the expenditure of your one precious life.

As I have closed what some would consider the first two-thirds of my life, I feel a bit more urgency-what else can I fit in? Can I learn another language? Will I get to see Bali? Will I ever have a book published? Am I comfortable in this skin? What do I need to shed? How do I need to grow?

There is so much life out there to grab ahold of-some love travel, others travel within. Some love to read books others love to read people. There are piles of books near my bed. Will I ever read them? Can I learn to play piano, tap dance, hang glide?

There are times that TV holds us captive – a gravitational pull to the couch - an escape from life and at times I wonder, whose life are we living-theirs or ours? So, most days I never turn it on. And of course, rest and quiet and listening to the soul are vital properties to fit in as well- uncovering what lies beneath the clatter of civilization – who we are at our core.

I will keep trying to fit it all in-be all the things I’ve dreamed of being-visit the places I am able to visit and at my last breath be at peace with this life I’ve etched. Certainly not flawless, not without work or struggle or doubts or regrets-but a life in which I have experienced as much as I could- did what I could to help others and try leave the world a little better for the next in line. And this next third, I hope to keep on going and growing, doing and becoming all that I can.