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YIKES I’M LATE

Thursday Dec. 1, 2016

This was my real-life scene yesterday …

Waking late can be luxury, sniffle-virus reality – or panic-mode, clock already ‘snooze-button clicked by’ those early productivity hours routine. I’d barely rubbed crumbs from my eyes, already two hours behind – but in that moment, for a moment, I felt about 10 hours behind. By the time I’d poured and consumed my first cup of coffee it was 8:30, I wasn’t two hours behind, it was three. Thankfully a blank calendar day, no early meetings or committed calls.

But I got thinking …

Is this not a metaphor for life?

We wake up at some age – panic stricken 30-yr. olds, mid-lifers at 50 or me at 65, realizing that decade or two we’ve just wasted or slept though can’t be pulled from some clock-burning pyre to be restored to be written up in an ‘unvarnished opportunity’ column. Rather, it’s is in the ‘opportunities not grasped’ column. Of course this is just a silly mind game we play with ourselves when we aren’t fully awake or when some virus or event has us feeling low or blue or sad about something.

This is where the second cup of coffee comes in, does its duty to stand us fully erect and poised to embrace the new day.

I’d just walked Gusta, cheeks were red and chilled by morning air, ready to get my motor humming. Sure it was late, but it was 5AM somewhere …

Wherever we are we can see ourselves as a few hours, or decades, behind – or we can sit in the same place, sip our coffee – enjoy some quiet reflective time, look at life and nature outside our window and be grateful for that vision, that peace and safety, that delicious brew that goes so well with morning newspapers and perfect eggs … basted, hot, molten yolk spurting on the plate to mingle with mushrooms, onions and tomatoes …

Oh my, what a beautiful morning.

Yikes, I was late.

No I wasn’t. It just felt that way for a while. Late, early – they are just words to describe something humans created called a schedule that alters every normal human pattern of activity.

New ‘non’ rules: be yourself, sleep when tired, work and play while awake. Eat when hungry. Stop when satisfied. Eat again when hungry again. Get outside and enjoy nature, enjoy the weather however hot or cold or windy or challenging – the weather is being natural and unfettered by any decision you make. Make better choices. Make more choices about fewer things.

Late or early doesn’t matter so much – what matters is that we wake up, not when.

 

Reader feedback:

I NEED HELP

I have been learning this skill lately. Never one to ask for help in anything, going it alone I was always taught is what made a person stronger. Great post Mark, MJ, Edmonton, AB


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