We live in a very interesting time.

An age in which anything we desire can be purchased, obtained and received in the blink of an eye.

Where we download information and entertainment with one simple click. When we can publish something online in Canada and it can be read in India within seconds.

To me it feels as if society’s pace is exponentially increasing, and the desire to heal the world is stronger than ever.

Everyone’s maneuvering throughout each day in their own unique way—some trying to figure out their life passion or purpose, some trying to be of service, and others are merely trying to survive.

But regardless of where we may fall on this societal spectrum, I think there’s a universal truth that’s so medicinal and potentially life changing that we should remind ourselves of it every single day: We’ll never get it done.

We’ll never get it all done—ever.

In a day and age of extreme consumer culture and an abundance of comparison generators (hello, social media), I think the reminder that we’ll never get it done is more important than ever before.

There will always be more to say, to do, to create and to achieve.

There will always be more people to meet, places to see and adventures to be had.

There will always be more layers to shed as we move closer to our deepest and truest self.

There will always, always be more to do.

With that said, I think the reminder that we’ll never get it all done is so medicinal, because it encompasses a permission that so many of us desperately need.

The permission to rest—the permission to pause, to breathe and to just simply be.

When we acknowledge that there isn’t some day in the distant future when we’ll get it all done, there’s an underlying current of ease that begins to pulsate in the depths of our being.

I find when I remind myself of that notion, there’s such a visceral shift in my experience. My body relaxes, the tension dissipates, my breath feels more fluid, and my lens of perspective on this life softens as it simultaneously fills with more gratitude for all that is in this very moment.

I do believe we should do our part—find ways to be of service and take the best care of our precious collective home that is this earth. But as much as we work, do, see and achieve, we have to remember to take the time to simply rest and allow everything—exactly as it is—to just be.

Because if we solely do what we’re doing with our time for a better tomorrow, what happens to today? If we’re always working towards our dreams, but never fully dropping into this eternally unfolding present moment, aren’t we kind of living in a place that doesn’t yet exist?

And as exciting as it is—if we’ve found what lights our soul on fire and want to share it with the world—if we’re contributing to the benefits of humanity on large or small scales, or even if we feel like we have no idea what we’re doing or what we’re looking for, the same truth applies.

We never get it done.

So no matter what phase or age we are at in our lives, when we remind ourselves there will always be more to do, it triggers us to be fully present to what’s happening now. Right now. In real time.

Our ability to drop into the moment doesn’t just positively impact our own lives, it greatly affects all those around us. It enhances our ability to listen, and it changes the overall way in which we’re able to show up for our people, our lovers and our friends.

Besides, life is simply much more digestible and delicious in moment-by-moment pieces.

In the last few years, the idea that we’ll never get it all done has been my guiding mantra. Although it hasn’t so much changed what I do, it has drastically changed how I do it.

It’s shifted my sense of racing through life, micro-managing and diligent planning to much less multi-tasking, moving way slower and continuously shifting my attention back to what’s happening now. It’s lessened my experiences of anxiety and depression and has amplified my ability to really live, to not just cope and get through this life, but to truly thrive.

It’s given me the gift of experiencing more of those almost indescribable subtleties that are available within each moment and within each breath when we allow ourselves to be fully present. It’s been a reminder to pause, to drop into the body, and simply experience how it feels to really be alive.

Because life isn’t some linear “Point A” to “Point B” race. It’s more like “Point A” grows, transforms, expands, contracts, learns, unlearns and continuously experiences a sense of death and rebirth.

It’s okay to rest. It’s okay to feel exactly how we feel in this very moment.

It’s okay to be wherever it is we may be, doing whatever it is that we may be doing.

It’s okay to just breathe and settle into our sweet selves a little bit more.

Because there will always be more to do, and we just never get it all done.

I believe it’s our inherent birthright for all people to feel safe and deeply at peace. And I believe the reminder that we never get it all done is one access point to that feeling.

This reminder may not change the way our life looks, but it can radically change how our life feels.

And that’s what’s actually important, is it not?

Since I’ve incorporated this as a prominent theme in my life, my days feel very different than they ever have before. Each day just feels more meaningful, more flavorful and all around more soul satisfying. Although sometimes life can be scary and confusing and hectic simultaneously, there’s now an undercurrent of ease that is much louder and much more powerful.

It’s been a subtle shift in perspective that has opened up a whole new world. A world in which I move a lot slower, pause more often, and allow myself to settle even more into the belly of my soul and all that this life experience has to offer.

And in the simplest explanation, it just feels a heck of a whole lot better than it did before.

There will always be more to do, to fix, to contribute and to accomplish.

There will always be more to learn, to unlearn and to see.

To remind ourselves we’ll never get it done is to give ourselves permission to relax, enjoy and savor what is.

To remind ourselves we never get it done is to gift ourselves the experience of how it feels to really be alive, right now, in this very moment.

To remind ourselves that we never it done is to anchor the undercurrent of peace and ease into depths of our being and reverberate into every part of our soul.

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Author: Alexa Torontow

Image: Amy Szakacsi, used with permission

Editors: Yoli Ramazzina; Emily Bartran