Seize the Day

I am a person who craves solid routine.  My starting point is a clean house, folded laundry, and a home cooked meal.  I wake up with the birds.  And my family has simply stopped making fun of the fact that I go to sleep at 9:30 PM on most nights.

This is all to say that adventure doesn’t always come naturally to me.  But when I’m presented with the choice between camping out in the desert to watch a meteor shower or cuddling up in my comfortable bed with a great book, this old saying helps me make my decision: Carpe Diem – Seize the Day!

We are only on this planet for about a century.  Our time is limited.  And our strength?  It will, eventually, leave us.

Every day is a precious opportunity to live the life we want to live.  On most days, that means taking care of ourselves (or our families) and following through with our goals.  But sometimes, we have a rare opportunity to do something different.  To get outside of our routine to have an experience that will create lifelong memories.

And if we say yes to these moments?  They last an entire lifetime.  They make time stretch as we relive them in our memories- again and again. 

This is why I don’t regret choosing to seize the day – even if it means that my routine is turned upside down.  Even if it means more dirty laundry, or just generally more dirt.  One lost night of sleep is not a justification for missing a fantastic experience.  And if not now, when?  When some of my children are too big to really enjoy it?  When it’s even harder for me to sleep on the hard ground?

So, I go ahead and let the kids jump into a surprise lake that we discover while on vacation.  I plan that random Tuesday afternoon hike with the kids – even though staying home would be so much easier.  I say yes to overnight trips, three-day desert hikes, and all sorts of micro-adventures that I don’t have time for – who ever really has extra time?  

When you say yes to the activities you want to be a part of your memories, you grab hold of precious opportunities to enrich your life experience.   If it’s important, then seize the day.  You only have one life, made up of a series of individual moments.  Do the things that will give you long lasting memories and change the story of your life experience.