After recent discussions with friends and family, and becoming more aware of the way people post on social media, I’m noticing a general theme of wanting to be somewhere you’re not.

And people are working themselves to the point of burnout to get there. There are people in my life who feel guilty if they don’t “do” anything for a day.

I’ve even seen some posts on social media implying an acceptance that if you don’t get there in this life, you may in another life. Does this make people who are potentially burning themselves out to “make it” feel better about the fact that they don’t seem to be getting to wherever it is they think they should be (probably because wherever they are there’s always somewhere better to be)? Does it ease their dissatisfaction and sense of failure? Seems unlikely.

Whatever happened to the old “non” new agey/mindful market cliché, “Be here now”? Is it possible to have an underused cliché? Or under implemented at least? I really think this one doesn’t get the attention it deserves.

How about we just Be. Here. Now. Even for just a minute. Because where are you going to be when you get to where you’re trying to get to? Here most likely. Possibly sick and riddled with anxiety from the subconscious stress of feeling that you are not where you’re supposed to be in life, i.e., you haven’t yet succeeded; you are not enough as you are in this moment.

Yes, you are.

You are enough exactly as you are right now. And I really think if we all took a few more minutes every day to just be here, we would quite probably significantly reduce our general chronic stress and anxiety. I’m not saying everybody is stressed or anxious, but I’d say the vast majority are either or both. I see it on a daily basis in my clients, as a massage therapist, and in my friends and my family. And I think it has a lot to do with the glorification of busyness.

Okay, I get it, life is happening. And we need to feel a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment, and make a living. And this means time, effort and hard work. I think we need to be careful though, that this doesn’t mean missing out on the very essence of life itself. If feeling fulfilled and abundant means living with constant stress and low-grade anxiety, and missing every beautiful little moment that happens around us, perhaps we’ve misunderstood the idea of fulfillment entirely.

Busyness is not only more socially acceptable than well, not being ridiculously busy, we even boast about how busy we are, and we feel guilt when we are not busy. Busy trying to get to that place, trying to “make it.” Busy fueling our anxiety and bombing our bodies with stress hormones, inevitably making ourselves sick.

Let’s stop that. Let’s boast about how we have time each and every day to be with our families, to share a cup of coffee with a friend, notice the people around us, marvel at the clouds and feel healthy and happy. Let’s be here, in this moment, right now, just a little more often. Because this is it. This is where we are. We are all here together and there’s nowhere else to be.

 

 

Relephant:

The Benefits of Being Present in Relationships.

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Author: Sophia Gerontakos

Editor: Travis May

Photo: LeAnn E. Crowe/Flickr