This post originally appeared here on Medium.
Preserve The Moments You Have Before They Are Gone
I pull my coat tighter to cut the chill on this overcast November afternoon. The leaves that are burnished red and yellow gradually give way to expose bare branches. I walk on the soft crunch of dry leaves beneath my boots and wonder where it all went — the passing time, the changing seasons, leaves on the trees that are now bare. Everything changes so fast.
Where has the time gone?
How I wish time would freeze, right here and now. It’s hard to wrap my mind around the concept of indefinite continuous time that loops days into months and then years. It feels like I’m just preparing to pick up my backpack to start a new world venture. Suddenly, I wake up, and it’s decades later. I’m hesitant to find out what the future might hold.
I’m a firm believer that nothing is ever too late. I believe I’ll always have the time for one more roadshow, to go for the next holiday, get a cottage at the sea, bungee jump from a plane and sleep in a treehouse. Maybe even find crazy love halfway across the world.
I’m having a hard time trying to grasp the idea that time flies. Does it? If so, then why do we try to kill time and waste time by procrastinating, being unproductive, and ignoring what is really at hand?
Moments seem to slip beyond my grasp like sand in an hourglass. All I want to do is to hold on to them for as long as I can. Life is a winding road of mountains and valleys. Every moment comes with laughter, lessons, and tears. While I’m perfectly okay leaving yesterday where they are, with no desire to relive memories, I’m not ready to face the future at such a speed it is going right now.
I want to stop, catch my breath, and stay a little longer with the lingering sunset before heading down the road again.
Have you ever wanted to remain in the here and now, neither wishing to go back nor forward? Moments where you feel life is unfolding perfectly because you finally discover the pieces that fit. The mysteries of life and the complications are now starting to make sense as clarity emerges behind the morning fog. Along the brutally painful journey of a murky past, I come to treasure the extraordinary joy that comes alongside the ride.
I’m enjoying life as is. I’m learning to swim with the tide and rejoicing in the beauty that transpires before my eyes. Life now presents a whole new perspective. There is always a bit of magic waiting somewhere, leaving a trail even when all appears lost.
Yet, everything is fleeting. Like a scoop of ice cream on a hot summer day, they melt. But that is okay because I have accepted this unchangeable fact of life.
What troubles me is when time travels at a speed like that of a river with powerful undercurrents, flowing without a break. Time does not shift or pause but continues mercilessly, with me looking on helplessly. I struggle to grasp the past and hold on to the present simultaneously. As the wheel of time turns, I’m witnessing yet another full moon, another change of season, another year ends.
Original Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
As the world around me moves forward, I can’t help but feel left behind. Everything I used to know becomes like shadows at dusk that disappear when the night falls. I thought I’m taking my time. But it was time that is taking pieces of me away as it flies alongside unnoticed.
I had believed that acceptance would be easy, but it is not. It is simple, without a doubt, but never easy. It’s like stepping away from the helm of a ship and trusting it will lead you safely on your journey. You must be willing to simply see without looking out too far into the horizon.
I guess sometimes I attempt to forget that time dictates our lives. It comes and goes like a feather in the wind, rapidly changing, carrying our feelings, moments, and emotions with it. That is why on quiet, windy days such as this, I feel homesick. Not for a place, but for a time gone past. The times when I belonged in a moment. We are time travelers who are constantly discovering but never settling. We are being snatched from one place and cast into an unfamiliar zone.
Time has a way of moving quickly, catching us unaware of the passing years. This afternoon is no different as it slips past quietly like the brisk wind that comes and goes each hour. Soon, everything fades into darkness.
Stepping over the blushed leaves, I turn around to take a mental snapshot, capturing this moment. I know full well I will not have the opportunity to come around to this same place experiencing the exact moment again.
Are you attempting to preserve the moments you have? And if not, is it because you think you still have time?
