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Monday, January 14, 2013

Just Keep Living



Though he still has almost two months to go my son is very excited for his birthday.  Yesterday he asked how we could get to March.  Could we drive there in a car, he asked?  Our answer to him was simply.  Live.  That’s how you get to March.  That’s how you get to any anticipated date or event. There is nothing you can do to make the time go faster, you just live each day. 
                                                             
While trying to explain this to a three year old (didn’t go so well, by the way) I had a little light bulb moment.  That’s what I have to do for publishing.  I can’t drive forward in time, or skip the rest of my life just to get there. I have to live each day, keep working, doing my part and trying to do it well, and eventually, I will get to that day.  Until then I’ll just keep living and writing. 

39 comments:

  1. Great post, Sara.

    In. The. Moment.

    No need to suspend the joy, find the grace in every task you do (even if it's revising that horrid query letter for the one hundredth time).

    Lovely. Thanks for sharing. We all need reminders of this.

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    1. Knowing it is one thing, trying to teach it to a child imparts a whole new level of understanding.

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  2. Thanks for the reminder, Sara. We do have to live through the moments it takes to get to our goals. And thanks the little one for sparking the idea to slow down and not worry about tomorrow. It will take care of itself. ; )

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    1. You can't rush time. It travels at it's own pace.

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  3. Patience is a virtue but hard to come by.

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    1. As they say, don't pray for patience--God will send tests to teach you that virtue. ; )

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  4. Wonderful sentiment, Sara. You're a good mom!

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    1. My son is going to teach me so much about understanding the world. My daughter is going to teach me so much about patience and acceptance.

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  5. So simple and profound. Great wisdom for moms - and writers!

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  6. Yes... this is something I try to always keep in mind... but goodness, it's difficult, isn't it? :)

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  7. I'm pretty sure time started going faster somewhere around my 50th or 60th birthday. So be prepared.

    Three-year-olds don't have much of a concept of time, but to make things easier for him (and to prevent yourself from having to answer the question about "how long" until his birthday) you could make him something along the lines of an advent calendar. Each night before he goes to bed, he can open another door, or tear off another page, or color in another section of a picture. However you do it, it's help him visualize movement forward and how much longer he has to wait.

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    1. We do have a calendar. we put a picture of a cake on his birthday so he can see which day it is and how many days in between. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be getting close fast enough. I do like your ideas though, I may have to put something together.

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  8. So true! This reminds me of Nemo: "Just keep swimming..." great minds and all that!

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    1. LOVE Dori! I often hum that to myself a lot when things get stressful at work... [g]

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  9. Exactly! There's no point rushing time. It goes by too quickly as it is. Unless you're 3 years old. Then it crawls. :)

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  10. Love the idea that he thought you could drive to March. :)

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  11. kids teach us so much about things we can apply to our own lives, and we don't realize it until we say hmmmm... "it's the things that make you go hmmmm..." thanks for sharing!

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    1. In discovering the world he's reminding me of everything I no longer see.

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  12. That was so cute! Conversations on the concept of time are very interesting with this age group. We call it "getting into the circle" in our house, because each attempt at logic leads to an even more bizarre turn in the dialogue.

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    1. I like that, "getting into the circle" My three year old is quite possibly more logical than I am but the conversations are still fun.

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  13. That's an incredible philosophy, Sara! I love it.

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  14. What a great post and a wonderful reminder to live in the present. Thank you.

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  15. I think your response was brilliant. Live. I mean, really. You were talking to me, weren't you~!

    Great post, Sara!

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    1. Well, I decided I was talking to me, but I'm glad if it helped you too. :)

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  16. I love this insight. I had a similar thought wading through the snow this morning.

    I never really thought I'd manage to graduate. Like, when I started my studies the idea of doing an entire degree just seemed overwhelming. But I put one foot in front of the other, and I let every day come as it would, and eventually I did. This morning I decided maybe I should apply the same thinking to all the other things I do. Publishing a book seems like such an overwhelming idea but writing a few words on a page isn't. Writing a few thousand more isn't so bad. If I just do one thing after another, noooo big deal, eventually things will happen.

    As you say, just have to keep living until then.

    <3

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    1. That's exactly the way to do it. Look at the small steps, keep doing them and we'll be surprised at where we end up.

      I miss snow.

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  17. Don't you love looking at things through the eyes of a child sometimes? :) Thanks for sharing, S.P.!

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    1. They do keep me looking at the world in a special way.

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  18. Oh what a lovely analogy/way of looking at it! It's true, we can't drive forward, so there's nothing to do but live each day as it comes, and do our best.

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