Things have been quite hectic at my work place the last few days, ever since the new project started. Last evening too, I had brought home some work and worked well into the night. As a result, I overslept and woke up late this morning. Thus I got late for office too. Just as I was about to leave, my cell phone rang, it was from my mother. Every morning after waking up, as a morning ritual, I give her a call and we have a hearty conversation for a good half an hour or so before I get on with the day's chores. But today in the hurry of getting ready for office, I had given it a miss.
"Yes, mummy. Sorry, I couldn't call you this morning, I was busy getting myself readied for office", I started.
"Hmm, that's okay. But have you eaten your breakfast? You wouldn't have, I know you very well. Why do you keep skipping breakfast every other day, Ritlu? This way, you will fall sick", said mummy in her usual concerned tone.
"Oho, mummy, don't worry, I will eat something once I reach office. But right now, I am getting really late, I need to leave as soon as possible. We will talk later, okay? Okay, bye mummy, love you... muuaah", saying this, I was just about to disconnect the call when I heard her saying...
"You know, I have prepared your favourite Aalu Posto today, your papa had been insisting for it since last week. Had you been here, you would have so gleefully finished it up in minutes. Even as I was preparing it, I started missing you terribly. I am dying to see you, Ritlu. You have been continually postponing your visit for some reason or the other. We talk everyday on the phone, no doubt, but isn't it time you paid your ageing parents a visit? Why don't you come over for a day at least? It's been eight months now since I last met you", she said, her voice choked with emotion.
Her words stopped me in my tracks. It dawned on me how, in my frenetic pursuit of materialistic goals, I have been neglecting, though unwittingly, the very ones who are my most prized possessions! Not just my family but I have been neglecting myself too. I haven't taken a vacation in months and I haven't visited my parents in eight months, I have only been pushing back my home-trip plans. Music once used to be my muse, there was a time when I would happily surrender myself to its summoning and let myself soar aloft into a little paradise of a world. It was my first love but of late I haven't been faithful to it. I had started to learn playing a piano a few years back and I so enjoyed it. But it has been months now since I went near a paino! I love gardening too but now I don't have time for it as well, I don't remember when was the last time I spent some good time working on my terrace garden. I have always wanted to write a book, there is so much I want to say. But it too has now receded into the backstage. I was once seriously thinking about starting my food blog but that as well has been lying on the back burner for a while now. So many of my plans and so many wishes have been relegated to the backstage, because my professional commitments have taken the centre stage!
"What am I doing? And for whom?", I started wondering. "Is this how I am going to live my life? Hell, no...", I assured myself.
With our demanding jobs, longer working hours, social responsibilities and household duties, life today seems to be busier than ever and we are often hard pressed for time. No doubt it's not easy balancing work and life, we feel as if we are walking a tightrope. And by the end of the day, we are left too depleted to be able to fulfill things in our wish-lists. Sadly the truth of the matter is, we have actually misplaced our priorities. We all seem to be caught up in an endless frenetic race. And the pace at which we are going has made life a blur. We continue to remain in a headlong rush day in and out, worrying about schedules and deadlines, that we have almost forgotten living our lives; we have forgotten to focus on what actually should matter to us -- giving time to ourselves and to people who love us. For far too many of us, work has trumped our family and ourselves, we keep pushing back our plans, we keep suppressing and ignoring our wishlists because of professional obligations. But this way of living is entirely self-imposed, isn't it? Were we to step back and take a closer look at our personal lives, we will realize that we have gotten so absorbed in chasing illusory pleasures that we haven't had time for ourselves! We have stopped feeling the essence of life; we have stopped heeding to our heart's call that we need to live life and not just exist through it. It's not how we had ever wanted to live our lives!
And it doesn’t have to be this way. There is nothing wrong in trying to be a dutiful employee but to let our obligations and responsibilities take precedence over our personal lives, our family and our little joys, is not right. We need not sacrifice our little pleasures, we need not suppress our heartfelt desires and wishes, we need not deny ourselves what we actually enjoy doing. Because when we put off things in our wish list for the future, we only rob us of our joy that we could have had now!
Slow down and live life. Go and fulfill your heart's desires, your wish-lists.
And act today... because tomorrow never comes!
Begin right away.
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It's Now Or Never... There Is No Next Time! |