Riding the Peloton the other day, I realized as the time counts down on the left is not just in your work out, the time is always counting down. The seconds on the Peloton were being used as an investment for my future health, it was comforting to think those seconds were well used!
The seconds are always counting down on our lives. How many of those seconds do I not even notice? How many of those seconds are not used for anything other than passing time to the next thing? I often wish through them, my mind attempting to jump ahead to when something is over or something new is happening. There is an expression, watch the pennies and the dollars take care of themselves. What about the seconds? For 2024 I am going to lean into the seconds, good or bad, I am going to stay in them.
For instance, I do not enjoy flying, it is one of the greatest metaphors for my lack of control in life. What am I missing in the seconds on the flight when I am preoccupied with trying to catapult to my future destination? When my hands are closed down on the armrests and my focus is on fear – there is no space for openness, joy, anticipation of great things to come.
So in 2024, I am going to do my best to be in the seconds and trust that if I take care of the seconds the minutes, hours, days, and weeks will take care of themselves. The time will continue to move in 2024, the question is how do I want to interact with the seconds? Can I lean into them? Be with them in the good and bad to get the most out of this year? Instead of gripping the armrest waiting for my destination, can I focus on the journey, releasing the fear of what may be and making room for experiencing life – and all that comes with it.
Losing important people has given me a great appreciation for life, but it has also instilled the fear that I will lose more. It is hard to embrace the seconds, it is easier to hold back on the joy, it makes the inevitable loss seem less. My mind hypothesizes if I moderate the joy will it lessen the pain of loss? Am I the only one who thinks this way?
In 2024 I am going to do my best to let the seconds be all that they are and not dull the experience of them. I am going to be brave and let them be all of what they can be, not ask them to be less. The clock is counting down for all of us. Another year has begun and I am going to choose to honor the gift of the seconds, by releasing the fear of what may be, and being with what is, in each moment.
I think the work is worth it because our lives will all end at some point and holding back and limiting joy along the way does not lessen the inevitable pain of loss, it simply wastes the seconds of possibility. So I will take baby steps of letting the seconds be everything they can be in 2024, taking a breath and walking with the fear that sits on my heart but not allowing the fear to drive me to white knuckled bypassing, I will work to be brave enough to let the beauty and possibility of life flow. Here is to 2024 and all of its seconds!
