It’s very easy to watch the world go by

“It’s very easy to watch your world go by here”, said his friend. The near empty cafe, the brown sofa, oak furniture, human colours. The passive sound of buses and chatter, like water trickling in a stream. Moreover, it was the large windows which caught his attention. There was something about having a constant source of movement in his vision, a stimulus whenever he glanced up momentarily to catch a wondering thought, that made him feel like he wasn’t wasting it all away.

Was it just an artificial feeling of satisfaction? How did he know this feeling wasn’t intrinsic, that it was really just his mind saying “congratulations, you’ve fulfilled the stereotype of a Parisian romantic”? Who cared, the question was about as useful was finding meaning in life. Sometimes, rationally deconstructing something is not the most fruitful endeavour. Like passion — you can’t explain easily why you love something or someone. It’s just so.

The main thing was, the world was a stage, and he recognised this, finally. It helped him keep a distance from the positive and negative experiences in his life. “This too, shall pass”. There was always the calm before the storm, and the highs after the lows. The main thing was being able to view a future. “Live as if you will live forever, love as if you will die tomorrow” the old adage goes.

The other part which ameliorated his anxieties and depression was this idea that intellectually he understood as the black swan, but emotionally Stephen Fry elucidated fully, and that was the necessity of grit. Fry spoke genuinely, without redaction, of how long it took him to get to this point. And in this day and age, when he feels like he’s almost been attuned to rapid results, when he honestly doesn’t want to order shoes online because he’s so lazy to wait a week for something to arrive (true story), when he can barely start a book anymore or form a routine, it really meant something to understand the pronounced value of the long term.

Overall, life is alright. You can take a positive view in mostly any situation, because there’s always something good waiting in the future. And if not, there’s always sanctuary to be found in the present. For him, it was something as simple as cleaning his bike. Being lost in that moment. “You just do something, and you don’t have to think about it, it’s just nice.” There was probably a word in some foreign language that expressed the exact thought, this nostalgia for the present, but he didn’t mind at all.