Waiting around to Live and Waiting around to Die

“I don’t think I could retire in a quiet place like this.”

We were driving out of the quiet coastal town of Nelson Bay. It is a relaxing place to stay for a visit, but Craig was pretty adamant it could not be a life long home.

“I still need the vibrancy of a city. I don’t want to be spending the final parts of my life going to the same restaurant and walking down the same village street.

If you are near the city you still have all the choices of things to do. I think it helps keep you young and alive. Otherwise, I’d just be sitting on my porch waiting around to die.”

“Yep. That is what a lot of people do.” I mused back.

“Funny thing is most people spend the first part of their lives waiting to live and then just hang around waiting to die.”

I’ll do that when …

How many times have you heard someone, or worse yourself, say I’ll do that when….

  • I’ll do that when I am rich
  • I’ll do that when I have more time
  • I’ll do that when I lose 5 pounds…
  • I’ll do that when I get married, or when I have kids, finish college, get that promotion, move house, or retire…

The sad fact is that usually the perfect time in the future never arrives.

And before you know it the kids are now gone living their dreams, or choosing to do it sometime in the future, and you are sitting on your front porch with a lukewarm tea and the Sunday paper just waiting around to die.

Craig and I have been pretty good about doing what we want to do now, but every now and then something will pop up and we’ll say

“We’ll do that when…”

Do it now

That the signal phrase that tells us to remember that the when will never come unless we do.

IF it is something we really want to do we have to do it NOW

We knew having another baby was not really the right time for us now, but we knew in reality there was never gong to be a right time.

Something would always pop up to make it not and so we said

“Well really there is no better time. No reason to wait”

The real truth to life, is there never is a perfect time and there never will be.

Things will always come along that will shatter your planned future. You might as well throw those plans out the window and say

“You know what. The perfect time is now. What am I waiting for? This is my life and I am dying every single minute I live it. I’m going to choose what I want to do now. The small details I see as barriers can be easily overcome and worked out. I am going to choose to live now, and I am going to keep on living until the moment when that last breath arrives.”

Because I don’t know when that will be. I’ll never know.

All I know now is that I am living, and living is all I want to do.

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