38 Special

If anything has become abundantly clear in 37 years lived it’s that time has no intention of being understood. Sure, we have different ways of measuring time. From tide shifts, to rotations of a planet, to days, units, and even the sands that fall from one side of an hourglass to the other. Still, time is not something we can easily understand nor do I think we’re meant to. We want to believe everything is lineal but time has an odd way of showing you that it’s anything but consistent.

Sometimes life goes by at a million miles an hour, then it crawls at an injured snail’s pace. How you feel and what you experience directly impacts the speed at which time flows for you. We revisit special moments in our life time and time again. We have recurring dreams, recurring fears and phobias, and recurring moments where past experiences have prepared you to better deal with whatever life’s throwing at you. Memories can sometimes be recalled on will and sometimes hit you with no warning. But in a way that’s time. It’s not a bad thing and it’s not good, it just is. And life is much like time, in the sense that it just is. We can’t expect every second, minute, hour, or day to have the same worth in our life because that would not only be monotonous but probably impossible.

What we do with our time will ultimately define what our life is, will be, and was. This isn’t speculation; it’s an over-simplistic assessment of the ride we call life. How we invest that time, who we spend it with, and what we do are all factors that will make us either smile and enjoy or regret. There are a lot of things that shouldn’t be wasted in life, but time is one of them and probably the most important one at that. How we use time to find our smiles and do what gives meaning, purpose, and value should always be pursued and sometimes life makes you think long and hard about how you’re using your time. I can’t say I fully understand why spending time with loved ones, chatting, reading, writing, playing music, creating music, playing video games, and bodyboarding make me as happy as they do. A lot of people would say they clearly do and I think it’s more a case of being beyond clear about what makes you happy. We often obsess about the why of things or any of the other W and How questions, but sometimes you need to start with what and quite often, the why ends up not being that important.

What makes you happy? How will you get to experience more of what makes you happy? When and where can you get to those things that make you happy? Who do you want to share that joy with?

And why?

Why doesn’t matter.

Seriously, it doesn’t.

Do you need to know why scratching a puppy makes you happy? Does knowing why a perfectly brewed cup of coffee makes you smile or bring more smiles? Are we better off knowing the basic principles of why hugging or kissing someone we love brings us joy? 

Not one bit. Sure it’s interesting. But it won’t bring us more joy.

As the last couple of minutes of my 37^th year transitions into year 38, I’m left with the prospect of many things but more than anything I’m left with the wisdom that I don’t need to focus on the why of life. Why are we here? It’s the question we’ve obsessed with ever since consciousness became a thing for humans. It’s an important question to experience though, because life is an essay not a True or False or a Multiple Choice exercise. An essay… and every day we add to that answer. What’s more, whoever reads the answer will react differently to it. Some people will focus on one part of your answer while others will gravitate to other sections.

Now, you could ask why some people gravitate towards one aspect or another, or you could simply enjoy that someone took the time to read your life answer and what you have to offer, inviting you to do the same with their answers.

So in that spirit, thank you for reading me, be it on this blog, in my poetry, in my books, or in my life’s answer. I look forward to comparing notes and laughs, and of course…

Peace, love, and maki rolls