“Today is the first day of the rest of your life” (to quote a poster from the 70s). I’ve been thinking about this the last couple of weeks. My life for the last 6 months has been pretty non-stop and busy, and now - with spring and summer and beyond - I feel like a lot of my heavy lifting is done. Anxiety (albeit unnecessary) was just hanging out there and bothering me.
Stress is part of life. For me - it doesn’t feel healthy to obsess on things I don’t have control of. Winter in Iowa happens, and regardless of the fact that I hate winter … it’s still going to happen. I’m going to get older - that is inevitable. We are all going to get sick, and we are all going to die. But spending time freaking out about winter and obsessing about aging, illness, and death aren’t going to accomplish anything. Living life - regardless - is what we need to do.
I saw a post on Facebook or an article online from somewhere that said the start of spring brings about tiny funky flowers in the woods - wildly colored and very interesting. I’ve never noticed these but now that I know, I’ll look and be aware. Yesterday, I was at a meeting in Des Moines, and on my way back to my car, I noticed some really cool, dinky purple flower that I’d never noticed before. Now, I’m aware.
Today - in celebration of the rest of my life, I’m going to open my window and breathe in spring. I’m going to look and see and feel and appreciate as much as possible. In a perfect world - I’d weigh out the cost of my anxieties against the possibility that they’ll happen and make my life worse versus just going with the flow. Going forward, I want to be the “Steve” who is smiling and breathing and noticing the dinky flowers in the woods. It’s a subtle yet gigantic step.
