LIFE
Why You Can’t Enjoy Life
Life’s a beach (But why can’t I build a sandcastle?)
“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” — Henry David Thoreau
Has the relentless pursuit of productivity drained the joy from your days?
Do you find yourself chasing an endless to-do list, seldom pausing to drink in the beauty around you?
If so, you’ve stumbled upon the right rabbit hole.
Let’s face it, we live in a cult of busyness where our self-worth is measured by our Sisyphean hustle.
From an early age, we’re indoctrinated into the religion of “Going gets you nowhere but going gets you everywhere.”
But at what cost?
We become strangers to the present moment, perpetually leaning into the next task, the next goal, the next shiny object that will finally bring contentment.
I know this struggle intimately.
As a former devotee of the Church of Optimal Efficiency, I was eternally unsatisfied, forever chasing some elusive state of “enough.”
My inner drill sergeant berated me for daring to rest, for allowing my focus to stray from the hallowed checklist.
Until one fateful morning, when my gaze drifted from my laptop to the window.
There, frolicking on the cherry blossom tree outside, was a squirrel family engaged in the most delightfully unproductive romp.
Their playful antics unlocked an epiphany — I had forgotten how to simply be.
From that moment, I embarked on a journey to reclaim my humanity from the clutches of ruthless productivity.
It was a twisted path strewn with abandoned to-do lists, forgotten calendar notifications, and the occasional interpretive squirrel dance.
But slowly, I learned to:
- Breathe deeply and notice the sensory smorgasbord around me — the crisp autumn breeze, the cheeky wink of sunlight through swaying branches, the earthy aroma of an incoming storm.
- Allow my mind to wander along gloriously unplanned detours, unconstrained by societal expectations or self-imposed shackles. One minute, I’d ponder existential quandaries about whether my cat subjectively experiences the same conception of “tuna” that I do. The next, I’d get hopelessly lost in an imaginary world where mundane household objects engage in epic battles for supremacy. Spoon vs. Spatula was a saga for the ages.
- Lean into the seemingly foolish, revel in the silly, and dance with the absurd. Like that time I had an in-depth debate with my inner child about whether we should construct an interdimensional portal from refrigerator boxes and embark on grand adventures.
- Unapologetically embrace my multitudes and paradoxical personas. The tender-hearted dreamer and the cynical curmudgeon. The bold adventurer and the cozy homebody. Like a rich tapestry, our contradictions are what make us vibrant and alive.
Was I certifiably mad? Quite possibly.
But in the wise words of the Cheshire Cat, “We’re all mad here.”
The moment we start taking ourselves too seriously is when the spark of life fades.
So go ahead, stop, and smell those metaphorical roses.
Talk to strangers about their fascinating button collections.
Build whimsical pillow forts and declare them sovereign nations.
Get delightfully, unashamedly lost in the labyrinth of your imagination.
For at the end of the day, when we’re moldering in our graves, we won’t reminisce about the emails we sent or the meetings we attended.
We’ll long for the moments we truly lived — those pockets of unbridled joy, wonder, and soul-sparking aliveness.
Life is short, but it’s also terribly, beautifully, unpredictable.
So let’s dance with reckless abandon amidst the chaos and contradictions.
Who’s with me?
