Where Does Life Go?

First published on August 9, 2018

John Lennon was wrong. Life isn't what happens when you're making other plans. Because making plans is life, too. Everything is life. 

Sometimes, after a weekend of 'nothing', spent recovering or pottering, or just watching Netflix for hours, I think, 'Where does life go?' 

But it's a question whose premise deserves to be questioned, whenever it is asked. Because this, whatever it is you're doing when you ask that question, this is life. Right now, this moment. 

The normal, as well as the extraordinary. 

The safe, as well as the adventurous. 

The things everyone does, as well as the things only you do. 

The stability, as well as the novelty. 

This is life. 

I've been craving the normal, recently. Wishing for a day when I could just relax. When I could just switch off. Bemoaning my decisions to stretch myself, to lean for bigger things, to dance with Resistance, in life and love, and take my life where I wanted to. But that, that is just as bad as missing out on life by spending your time planning for the future. Because this, the normal, the abnormal, this is life, too. And it needs to be savoured. 

There is only one real certainty about life, and that is that none of us is going to get out of it alive. 

And now, whatever now is, that is where life happens. Now, as I write, and now, as you read. This is life. This is, in fact, all there is. 

The past has happened, the future isn't real and it may never be. All you have is now, thought in the moment, sometimes thought about the future, sometimes thought about the past. Feelings, too, may seem to be from other times. But they are only now. 

So, whatever you are doing, every day, don't forget: this moment is precious.