I was having a conversation with my best friend the other day about how fast the year is flying.  We were trying to wrap our heads around the fact that it’s already the end of July and only 5 months left in the year!  As I shook my head in wonder, she said it’s amazing how we rush through life without really enjoying the moments.  As soon as she said that, I realized that is why we are always saying that time is flying!  We’re the “problem”—not time.

Because technology has afforded us the luxury of having things immediately, we tend to expect “microwave” responses to everything around us.  We’re impatient in the grocery store line, drive at high rates of speed to get to our destinations (even when we’re on time), interrupt each other to get our points across, have sex without getting to know our partners first, divorce without trying to save the marriage, always on the move and never slowing down—running on empty…

The list can go on forever but the point of it all is that we are truly lacking the ability to simply…be.  As my friend stated “we don’t enjoy the moments.”  Ironically, she articulated exactly how I’d been feeling just days before during a walk around the park—I just didn’t know at the time what I was feeling.  As I walked, I realized that there was so much simple beauty all around me:  I heard the birds, felt the breeze against my skin, and saw the gentle rocking of the branches and the leaves on the trees.  I took in the sound of the children’s laughter as they played and remembered how that felt.  I actually listened to and saw everything around me and realized that it was a God-given symphony of peace, beauty, and life.

Bolder Sisters, take time to truly “smell the roses”.  Celebrate your very existence in the moment—not dinner tonight, homework, chores, and kids.  As you go throughout the day:

• Actively listen for the sounds of nature
• Purposely take notice and see the shapes and structures of buildings, plants and animals
• Mindfully feel the breeze as it moves against and around you
• Peacefully enjoy the children at play
• Boldly breathe and embrace it all

In doing this, we decisively and consciously disconnect ourselves from the microwave world that we live in.  We may even find that there’s a little extra energy and space left to deal with the pressure of everyday life.  Our decisions will be less reactive and more thoughtful and then maybe, just maybe, we will find that time is not moving quite as fast as we thought it was.  Perhaps we’ll find that we, in our daily rush, are moving too fast to enjoy life.

Bolder Sisters, what can you do today to slow down and enjoy the moment?

Kim Woods earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Information Systems at DeVry University. She developed a love for writing poetry and short stories as a child. Kim is socially conscience and her desire to use her life experiences to help others is what drives her to seek opportunities to share her story. She decided to write freelance for the Bolder Sister because it is her desire that women evolve and thrive in their own authentic truth.
Kim resides in Chicago, Illinois and has one son, Donald. In addition to writing, she spends free time creating unique wall art, decorating, and teaching herself how to sculpture. She also has a blog Who Will Speak.