Half Past Four

FD Thornton - 2017

Right now I got Bill Evans playing on my headphones and while I feel a certain amount of contentment, the world feels oddly in limbo. Almost like it’s waiting for the other​ shoe to drop. Recently I stop by to chat with a friend, but they were far too busy to talk. They were knee deep into their latest project to stop. But that’s alright, we get like that sometimes, we get so wrapped up in our own little thing we forget. Forget that the point of it all this is to live, laugh, and enjoy each other. To connect and just be.

Still we move around busying ourselves with whatever we think is important. I did this myself for a really long time, jumping from one project to the next. Never making time to enjoy the fruits of my labor. You may ask have you finally been able to reap the benefits of all that running around? The answer would be, No. Instead I brought myself some time lying flat on my back wondering when, if ever, I’d catch my next breath. 

Setting goals and planning for the future are important things, don’t get me wrong. The problem arises when we allow those priorities to overtake who we are. We become so dependent on consuming we’ve forgotten about living, being, and communing with others as well as nature. At the moment one of my greatest pleasures is walking and being outside. To do as I really enjoy it requires fuel for my truck, a park pass, and my phone. All these things require money. But if time or money is a problem, I can always walk the neighborhood and freak out the neighbors. “Honey, that weird dude from down the street is walking again.”

My point is we are a social creature. We thrive on contact with each other. When we focus on ourselves and nothing else, we aren’t living, we’re just doing. All I’m saying is make time to be with your peers. Make friends outside your circle. Take it from me, expanding that circle can open your eyes to a whole new side of yourself you never thought possible.  So get out there and be…human.