It's the little things

We spend our days filled with tasks, errands, work, all self imposed. All these things through the day, we chose to do them. Instead of realizing that the "kids need to get to soccer practice" is not a need, but a task we have given ourselves to fill a void. We fill our lives with stress, because in some way it is easier to do that, it is what "normal" people do.

My perfect day, as I am sure yours is as well, is when I get up with the sun. I get up brew some coffee, I look out over the land and I take it all in. I sit in my chair out front and I watch the world come alive, as my dog sits next to me watching for cats. Her favorite past time. After the sun comes up, I go inside where breakfast has been made by my SO, I eat thank her for the meal and then go to my workshop and toil around there creating whatever pops into my head. After a few hours of that I come in grab a snack, and sit down to write for a bit. When I have drained all my creative juices, I grab a drink, and relax outside watching the sun set. Once I am recharged I write some more and then get cleaned up and have dinner with friends that my SO has made for us.

Now I have been told my entire life that this is impossible, because you need to work to pay your bills, and you have responsibilities. You have to go to school, and then to college, and then to work for 30 years then you can do all that. Once you've conformed to the way everyone else is doing it you can do what you want.

I say all that because recently I have been having car trouble, it causes me to get home entirely too late to write, or work in my shop. In fact it has caused me to have just enough time to eat, and then take the dog out. Where I would pass out in a chair in my backyard. Now I am not a car guy, so I did what everyone else would have done, I googled it. Now I love our google overlord, and welcome the google skynet app (Joke, it's a joke lol) But not everything on there is correct. I did my research, I had my search coding down pat, I was on line to find the issue.

The internet told me is was a bad battery, or a bad alternator. It said the battery wasn't holding a charge, either cause of a bad cell, or the alternators voltage regulator was bad and cause the battery acid to boil over. I even took it to a mechanic and he told me the same. So I was stressing about that and trying to get time to get it fixed.

Well I didn't find time, time found me.

My car broke down, and would not start on the freeway. Luckily I was in the slow lane and was able to pull over. For over two hours I tried to get my car to start, waiting for road side assistance. It was 90 degrees outside, no AC, no warning lights, no help. Honking, and cussing from drivers that felt I wasn't far enough over. I got out and pushed my car up over a bridge to stop the noise, and anger from all the traffic at 5 o'clock.

I reached the other side of the bridge, and I found that time was waiting for me. In the middle of this busy, traffic ridden highway, an entire herd of humans, sat there angry. Angry, frustrated, tired, and just sitting there honking.

While I grabbed the ice cold drink I was hoarding my car, in the shade. And I sat there on the bridge, and I watched the sun set, I watched everybody stop and go, stop and go. And I realized something.

Mankind, humankind, humans as a species is not meant to be in traffic. we are not meant to have tasks to fill our idle time. We have to have that idle time to recharge, and imagine, to create, to heal, to mend. To build that workshop, to write this post, to write your novel.

You need that time, because at the end of the day, it isn't your batteries, or alternator that's causing you problems. Its a loose cable, a loose wire that we all forgot to tighten down a long time ago, and now we think its OK to stick our kids, and ourselves behind a desk to do paperwork all day.

It's not OK. It never has been.

Find your sunset, find your novel, find your passion and find healing.