Live Day by Day 4

We live in a fast paced world. Gone are the slow moving days.  We now have contact with family and friends at a push of a button, infinite amount of information at our fingertips and technology that enhances more and more every day.  That’s why it’s so important to Live Day by Day.

Don’t you think it’s time to slow down again? Stop to smell the roses, take in the scenery and feel the real-time of a minute?

Being an only child, you’re never really a kid. Sure, you play and do kid-like things, but in your mind you are always considered an adult.  So, naturally I planned my career since I was five years old.  I was going to teach.

I had spent 25 years of my life observing every single one of my teachers throughout my schooling career. Developing my teaching style by the time I was a freshman in high school was a simple task.  Having no other goals, aspirations or focus in my mind, teaching was everything to me and I couldn’t wait to grow up and fulfill my dreams.  It consumed me.

After college, I was ready to take on the world – the world of teaching. I ended up teaching 2 full years as a long-term substitute: kindergarten and second grade.  The happiness that filled my heart is indescribable.  I was meant for teaching – I was great at it… no, I was magnificent.  I had a talent.  You may think that I’m just tooting my own horn, but my professional scores, parent letters, colleague criticisms and, most importantly, my students’ enjoyment for learning reflected on my talent.

Some time had passed and it was finally time to conduct my second interview for a full time, contracted kindergarten teaching position. I was ready, and quite frankly, I nailed it.  One principal walked me out afterward, patted me on the back and congratulated me on such an excellent interview.  I got my hopes up… bad move.

It was a Thursday that my world collapsed. I received my rejection phone call.  They chose someone else who was a “better fit”.  This is professional lingo for “we know her dad”.

Without getting into too much of the pain that had caused me (we’ll save that for another post), it took 5 years, countless tears and a solid support system to come to the following realization.

I should have taken my life Day by Day. I understand you need to plan for the future… but I LIVED in it.  I appreciate the memories that I made in my youth, but I wish I was more present with them.  Had I made LIVING my priority instead of my future, who knows who I would be today.  I have lost 5 years of contentment that I’ll have to make up for, but it taught me one thing: to live day by day.  Because life can drastically change in one month – one week, even.  Life just happens.  On the flip side, life can remain stagnant for 6 months or more where nothing happens!  So why stress about the unknown?  Life is full of surprises that are out of our control.

You need to plan for the future, you’d be stupid not to. Plan for retirement, prepare for a natural disaster, get a degree in your desired career, but don’t live your life to it.  It has taken me 31 years to learn that lesson.  I’ve always been a late bloomer, so better late than never, I suppose.

It has only been about 4 months since I truly started living my life Day by Day. I know it may sound crazy to you, but I’m used to living in the future and planning for it.  With this new outlook on life, it freed me.  I’m not as tense and it’s liberating to not care about the future as much.

It has taken my dream job being ripped from my life to actually live. However, I can still remember how the happiness felt in my heart when I was teaching – those 2 years I took day by day.  In fact, I remember not wanting the school year to end.  So, I guess I’m still working on some things, but I’m moving on from the pain and that’s the important part.

I’m just taking my life Day by Day because that’s what makes me happy now. And in this Journey Called Life, happiness is all that matters!

Here are my final thoughts and advice: no matter how bad your day or days are going, just know that tomorrow will be better. Try not to think too much about the future.  Just take it Day by Day.

I’ll leave you with 2 quotes:

“Come what may, time and the hour run through the roughest day” – MacBeth

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” – John Lennon

Enlighten, Encourage & Embrace your Journey Called Life.

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