In the Blink of an Eye

In the Tree House: In the Blink of an Eye

By: Samantha S. Daviss

We’ve all been told to “Live life to its fullest”, “Live each day as if it were your last”… to me those two statements can be a little ambiguous in the fact that, yes, we can absolutely enjoy life and everything we have been blessed with to the maximum. But me personally, if I lived every single moment as if it were my last…I would never get anything accomplished. My ideal last moments are with my family, on a beach, or strolling the back cobble stone streets of small Italian village while enjoying my wine and prosciutto; and not doing laundry, not cleaning my house, and not cleaning our rabbit’s cage out.

I fully concur with the fact that you shouldn’t let the little things bring you down, and things people say or do are completely out of your control, so just let those issues roll off your back; but to actually live your life as if it were your last day seems a little morbid, and a little convoluted.

With that said, your life can change In the Blink of an Eye, for the good or the bad. So you need to enjoy and appreciate every stage you’re in and every adventure you embark upon. The stages of life we are in come and go and change on a daily basis, like the changing winds of the open plains.

For instance say you and your spouse have been trying to conceive your first child for months, maybe even years. When one day you finally gave up hope that you could never become a biological mother to a beautiful little boy or girl; so you have come to accept the fact that you are willing and able to adopt. When suddenly you wake up and learn you are eight weeks pregnant. In the Blink of an Eye you went from the acceptance that you would never physically be able to become a mother, to no longer ever being alone for the next seven months of your life, to realizing that for the remainder of your life every decision, every move, and every choice you make will revolve around this little unexpected creature that you have yet to meet.

Another stage of life that you could be wandering through could be the single life. When suddenly you realize that your best friend (of the opposite sex) you have been hanging out with has moved from the “friend” category in to the “I love them” category. And right then and there your life has changed In the Blink of an Eye. You become conscious of the fact that you want this person to be a part of your life for the rest of your time on earth. That you would do anything for them, give anything for them; even be willing to open your heart so much that you are willing to have it broken, if their feelings for you aren’t mutual. Instantly you go from single, to committed.

We tend to overlook the good occurrences in life that can change us in an instant, and we tend to focus on the more negative happenings in life. I don’t want to say we all live in constant fear, but more on the edge of our seats, sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop so to speak. Those negative instances that can change our lives In the Blink of an Eye can range anywhere from receiving a phone call that a loved one has been in a car accident, to sitting at your doctor’s desk being told the devastating news that you do in fact have cancer and your treatment starts in a week, to your spouse walking in after 18 years of devoted love and marriage only to tell you they no longer love you and are moving in with someone else.

So with the good comes the bad, and yes it can all change in an instant. So even though we may not be able to live our lives as if they were our last days, lying on the beaches of the Virgin Islands, or hang gliding over the Hawaiian volcanoes; we can learn to focus on what is important in our lives and do what makes us the happiest, regardless of what everyone else is doing, what they feel is right, or what they think about your life choices.

It is your life, live it fully, and live it happily. You only get one shot at it, so live it with your ideal compassions for the perfect life. Color inside the lines, color outside the lines…save your money, spend your money…live in a huge house, live in a tent…it doesn't matter, live it to your standards. Because I promise, one day you will wake up and some event will have occurred while you were sleeping, or while you were awake and everything that you once called normal will be flipped upside down.