Making Your Days Count
Photo by Gian Cescon on Unsplash
4 Tips to Better Enjoy Life
This past Easter was the first ever holiday my husband and I celebrated without any family (thank God for friends!).
We moved out of state for my husband's health and that has been a very good thing.
The not so good part is we moved away from family and friends.
There is a sadness, yet we’re also enjoying this new adventure.
Grieving this move has come in waves.
I think most grieving is like that.
Life is like that. It is not stagnant.
We ride the ebb and flow of good and bad, happy and sad, elation and sadness on a daily, yearly, or even moment by moment basis.
And all the while time passes eluding us all.
When we’re young, time seems to drag – especially waiting for summer break or to open Christmas presents.
Then as we get older and feel we have more control over life, it speeds up.
Only to come to a screeching halt during nightly wakings with a newborn.
Then again time winds up to warp speed once the kids start – and finish – school within a matter of a seemingly few short years.
I’ve heard it said life can be divided into quarters. According to The Fourth Turning (Strauss and Howe, 1997), on average we will cycle through 4 stages:
20 years childhood
20 years young adulthood
20 years midlife
20 years elderhood
So if we have children we may very well only have them around for approximately a quarter of our lives.
This would have been nice to know 20 years ago, but this “quartering” of life puts things in a new perspective.
It reveals life’s big picture and more readily prepares us for its various stages. Not that any of us knows the future or how long we will live, but it helps to think of life in both the short and long term.
We would be better prepared for the next season of life, anticipating the change instead of being bowled over as if we didn’t know it was coming.
Not that we can ever prepare for everything life has to offer, but it can make everyday life a little easier and less stressful.
Here are four tips that may help us make our days count.
“Desire that your life count for something great! Long for your life to have eternal significance. Want this! Don’t coast through life without a passion”
We are being watched
Our kids (and others) are watching us.
How many times have you looked at someone and thought they are so good at (blank), why don’t they do (blank)?
Or thought, if I were them and had their resources, I’d be doing (blank). Or, why are they sitting at home when there are so many who could use their time and talent?
Whether those watching our lives say it or not, they need to see us living well.
They need to see us valuing the people around us by pouring into their lives with the time we have. Not assuming we’ll always have tomorrow.
We have all sorts of examples in books – including our Bible – but there is something very powerful about watching someone live their life well firsthand.
We don’t waste precious time
As we get older time becomes more and more precious. If we haven’t made plans for our current season of life already, we may flounder trying to figure out what to do next ASAP – wishing we had done it much earlier.
Or maybe we don’t want to have plans. Maybe we planned not to have a schedule so we would be available when others needed us.
Either way, it’s smart to plan ahead.
As Winston Churchill said, He who fails to plan is planning to fail.
“He who fails to plan is planning to fail.”
We’re better able to enjoy the now
When we know the overall picture and have made flexible plans, we’re better able to enjoy now.
Again, none of us know the future, but having plans reduces stress allowing us to be present in the moment.
We are not promised tomorrow or even our quality of life tomorrow.
Knowing we have limited time with our kids can deflate the everyday frustrations associated with raising them and we can deal with life’s ups and downs a little easier knowing this too shall pass.
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
The same holds true with all the relationships we value in our lives.
We’re better able to meet our goals
Ever meet someone who has come to a point in their life and they are surprised by it?
It’s one of those life events everyone knows is coming – like the empty nest (guilty!), retirement, aging, etc.
Most things don’t drop in our lap. Most of us don’t get rich quick or remain healthy as we age by sheer happenstance.
Again, nothing is guaranteed, but investing our money early and wisely and investing in our health by exercising and getting regular checkups as well as keeping up with our social connections can go a long way in maintaining our physical, emotional, and financial health (see Winston Churchill quote above).
Will these tips make life perfect? No, but hopefully they will help all of us enjoy our everyday life a little more.
When we have flexible plans, we have a solid foundation on which to stand, yet are able to pivot when life (or the kids, or grandkids, or a parents…) calls.
How do YOU make your days count? I’d love to read in the comments!
For more encouragement and inspiration check out these other posts:
