Let's see, I've warned you that it was coming, then I gave you week one, now it's time for you to sit back andIt seems a simple enough concept, but one fraught with duality. Stephen Stills put it beautifully with "[i]f you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with," and therein lie the two sides of Enjoy.
First, there's the side that says "be with the one you love".
Take some time to figure out what it is you really enjoy. It might be running or playing tennis or sitting in the bathtub eating spaghetti and drinking a beer. Whatever that thing is, find time for it in every day. Maybe it'll only be a few minutes here or there or maybe it'll be something you do every Saturday all day long, but make sure that you do it.
No matter the hectic, the tired, the must, the hafta, the anything else, find at least a little bit of time to do what you enjoy. It'll keep you sane. It'll keep you going. It'll be the carrot dragging you forward just long enough to make it to the finish line.
And when people tell you that you're not accomplishing anything by playing around with those pewter miniatures or reading that fluff celebrity magazine or screwing around on the magical interweb box, remember that you are accomplishing something. You're enjoying.
The flip side is to "love the one you're with".
There is so much that happens day to day, moment to moment that we can't quite control. Tires blow out. Pipes burst. Your wife backs into your car in the driveway.
And almost none of it is really all that bad. Most of your life is pretty good. You're still alive. You're still eating. You're still breathing. You've got some friends, maybe even a pretty girl (or guy, who am I to judge) to spend your afternoons, evenings, and - if you're lucky - nights with.
Everything else that happens is just stuff along the way.
Smile through it all.
And I don't even mean to say this in the high, preachy voice of that tells you over and over again that it could be worse...at least you've got your health...think about the less fortunate. Nope, that's not what I mean.
I mean that the most random series of events had to take place for you to exist. Your mother had to meet your father. Your grandma had to meet your grandpa. Your dad had to look past all of your mom's faults and love her - at least for a few moments, if I understand my biology. On the most microscopic of levels, the exact sperm had to find that exact egg at that exact moment.
Why waste the rest of your life moping about.
You are a miracle.
Shut the hell up and smile.
And the invariable flip side - enjoy in moderation.
Almost no matter the enjoyment - beer, swimming, playing with dolls, horseback riding, whatever - when it's more than just carving out minutes and day as you can, with everything there comes a level when you're enjoying just a bit too much.
Maybe the signs will be that your pants are quite fitting as loosely as they did last fall, and you might want to consider enjoying the pumpkin milkshakes just a little less.
Maybe the bank's knocking on your door, and you're answering with "take the couch, take the tv, all I need are my mint in the box action figures from Titanic".
Or maybe it's when your friends start saying that they haven't seen you in months, that they miss you, that your collection of belly button lint is really starting to smell.
Just note that enjoy doesn't mean obsess.
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