Life is happening now

Imagine someone sitting at a table every day, hunched down, toiling away as she assembles components to build the machine of her dreams.

She isn’t certain how much time she will have to build the machine, so she tirelessly attempts to extract as much productivity as possible from each moment.

Every time one part of the machine is finished, she uses her right hand to place it in front of her just beyond her workspace while using her left hand to scavenge for the next set of components in a seemingly bottomless pile of them.

Amidst her constant motion, she remains hunched despite her extreme discomfort at times and doesn’t spend a single moment looking up. She thinks to herself — but not for too long — “there’s no time for that”.

After nearly a lifetime spent assembling this machine, she finally finishes it. She looks up for the first time, slowly walks around it making sure to admire it from every angle, and is visibly filled with joy.

A few moments later, though, the rush of her initial excitement quickly falls flat. She reflects on the true cost of her masterpiece: a lifetime spent laboring and chasing after what she now fully realizes is a fleeting moment of joy.

At once, the machine she’d spent so much of her life working towards changed from a symbol of having “made it” to one of lost time and regret.

This person’s life is a cautionary tale that I feel like all too many fall prey to— one filled with conviction that life is somehow earned or that it somehow only starts once we’ve achieved something.

In reality, the life spent chasing things is no different than the life spent enjoying them — both are drawing from the same precious and rapidly shrinking pool.

Take a moment to look up right now — realize that this is it. Life doesn’t begin after a promotion, or a project is completed.

It’s happening right now.