Pursue Life Like Eating Strawberries

What did you have for breakfast? Can you even remember? If not, you’re not alone — most days I can’t. Not that I’m so busy that I forget, but I’m distracted, hurried, preoccupied–those words pretty much sum up my experience lately. It’s a weed that’s grown back many times in my life.

I started this ordinary day a little differently. (There’s great invitation offered when our days start like this, a little differently.) Today started with a chocolate-covered strawberry! Now that’s a great way to start a day — experiencing strawberries — and that got me thinking about how I’ve been living lately. I’m not talking just about food, but how I handled this strawberry exposes a pattern that spills over into the rest of my life.

This thought started last night when my daughter made a plate full of chocolate-covered strawberries. She left a couple for me for this morning! I saw them sitting on a plate in the kitchen. I ate one on first sight. Soooo good. As I walked out the door, I grabbed the other in a napkin and headed to my car. I got settled in on the road and grabbed the strawberry in all its sweet, red, juicy, chocolate-covered goodness, and chomp, chomp, chomp, swallow. It was gone. Just like that. Hastily. Thoughtlessly, really. The whole process took seconds. Seconds! I have to admit, I felt a little empty sitting there with only the memory of what I could recall it tasted like. Tasted? Did I even taste it? Wow, some memories fade so quickly.

Finding Time to Reboot

My wife just told me I’m being really negative lately. What?! I don’t see it. At least, I hadn’t seen it until she pointed it out. All along I was just being practical, informational, helpful even, or so I thought. But, she’s right. Lately, I haven’t seen the world as a happy, hopeful place. I’ve sort of lost the ability to dream and hope and believe into the future. I’ve become “realistic”, concrete, and short-sighted — negative. It’s like I can only see two feet in front of me. The rest is a blur. So, I’ve reacted with this cautious, controlling, less hopeful approach. It’s not how I want to live.

This isn’t an excuse, but I just feel so busy. (I know, who doesn’t feel busy these days, am I right?!) I don’t feel like I have time to process. It’s weird, because I have spare minutes. I watch TV. I listen to podcasts. I sleep 7 hours each night. But, something is going on. Calling myself “busy” doesn’t really describe it. We’re all ‘busy’, but we’re not all ‘negative’. Maybe another word fits — words like Distracted. Anxious. Cluttered. Hurried. Yup.

This is deeper than just my busy calendar. My mind is cluttered. And deeper still, my heart is distracted, disengaged. My life is crammed with unfinished “to do” lists and projects, unmet goals, unsolved problems, unfulfilled expectations, unresolved relationship issues – the list seems endless. My wife feels the effect. Heck, I feel the effect. I’m missing out on important things. I’m half present. I’m half listening. I’m scattered in twenty different places. Everyone and everything gets only a piece of me.

My wife’s words were like a glass of cold water to the face. I needed it. Awareness and acknowledgement are powerful friends, if only I’m willing take the time to know them. And like any relationship, I must put time aside for them.

I should have recognized the signs sooner. In my last job, I was a computer ‘fix-it’ guy. People would come to me saying, “My computer isn’t working right! It’s running really slow. Things are crashing.” And my job was to find the answer and fix it. Most of the time the solution was actually pretty simple, and I’d ask, “When is the last time you rebooted?”

A Metaphor for Life.