Of course I remember where I was. What stands out is how different my life is today. How quickly life can change. How rapidly time passes. The people I associate with are different. The people I love are different. The things I spend my time on are different.
I remember being an adolescent and thinking that I would never be 21, that it was so far away. And now I can hardly see it. I recall on the threshold of residency thinking that 6 years might as well be an entire life-time. And yet, here we are. Six years passed, and the seventh is moving at a clipping pace.
Regardless of how you feel about time, trying to hurry it along or slow it down, it is going to pass. I fear I have spent too much time trying to move it along and not enough time enjoying it for what it is.
Living in the present isn't something I have been very good at. I excelled at playing the past over and over again, and trying to predict the future, all the while missing what was going on right now or drowning it out. I am trying to make the most of my present, now while I still have it.
What I learned from September 11, 2001 is that life can change. It will change. No one will ask you if you are ready. Accept what life brings you. Love the ones you have. Do your best every day. Someone is counting on you - don't let them down. Just because something looks bleak today, doesn't mean that it will tomorrow.
Great post - I have had several doc friends remind us to enjoy the process - don't just look at the end goal when it is all finished. The road to get there is meant to be enjoyed (they all look back on the days of med school as residency as the fun times). Soak it all up and enjoy - time is fleeting and you never know when a change will come or what it will be.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful day enjoying your family.
We all need more reminders!
DeleteOh I struggle with this. I feel like I'm constantly on hold, waiting for him to be done with all this training so that we can start our lives. It's hard to feel like "life" is now, when it's impossible to feel secure & settled. Maybe I need to work on thinking of the not knowing where we'll be in a year & a half thing as an adventure. When we matched here for residency, I had really wanted to leave, so I was disappointed. Now that I like a new position I'm in & new friends that I've made, I want to buy a house & stay... which probably means we'll leave. Of coarse. I need to get back to the place of it being an exciting adventure...
ReplyDeleteWe are getting close to the end, only to find that it's not really the end we were expecting it to be. It is just another exciting adventure. Hard to keep that mindset isn't it?!
DeleteIn the words of John Lennon "Life is what happens, when we are busy making other plans" That was a quote painted on the side of my little "Wicked" camper van when touring New Zealand back in 2007. Words that have stuck with me and a reminder to live in the moment and not miss out on the opportunities of today while planning for tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI may need to plaster my office with that message!
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