Enjoy!

Not long ago I tore a page from my 365-day calendar and noticed a quote by Samuel Butler that struck a resonant chord. “All animals, except man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it.”

Wow! What a concept: Enjoy your life. The heritage of Western civilization is the Protestant work ethic: One must work hard to “make something” of oneself (whatever that means). While it may be true that many of us enjoy working, it is equally true that few people on their death beds wish that they had spent more time at the office.

Please do not misunderstand me. I am not making a case for indolence. One’s life work should be satisfying and rewarding. I am suggesting, however, that we have a tendency to get lost in the “busy” part of business. In our haste to move on to the next project, appointment or what have you, we neglect to pay proper attention to what is really going on in our lives.

This process starts in grade school where we are exhorted to work hard so that we can gain entrance to a good high school. In high school we apply ourselves diligently to the task of getting the best grades possible so that we can get accepted into a prestigious college. We then work very hard in college and perhaps graduate school in order to impress potential employers and land a great job.

At work we put all of our energy into our jobs, often neglecting family and friends, in order to make more money to buy stuff and have a better house and car(s) than our acquaintances, land promotions and perhaps get to the corner office or start our own business. These lead to efforts to make even more money so that when we reach retirement age we can kick back and … enjoy life?

If we are fortunate enough to survive to retirement age, we are reasonably likely to be dyspeptic, hypertensive and/or suffering from several stress-related illnesses. It is not at all uncommon for retirees to look back and wonder where all of the years went. What we need, therefore, is to recognize that it is not about the goals but the journey.

We waste much of our lives regretting the past and fretting about the future instead of relishing the present moment. The past is gone and cannot be changed no matter how much we might desire to do so. The past isn’t even real. Ask ten individuals to recount a past event and you will get ten different stories that may vary widely. No wonder that Mark Twain described history as “an agreed upon set of lies.”

The future, likewise, isn’t real. Woody Allen famously commented, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.” We all wish to control our destinies but we are utterly powerless to do so. Reality exists only in the present moment and it is only in the present that we have any control at all. Although it is a very difficult thing to do, our mental and physical health are best served by forgetting about the past and not overly concerning ourselves about the future. We all need to find a way (mine is photography) to focus on and enjoy the eternal present.

Enjoy!