"The best days of our lives"

Well it certainly has been forever since I've paid attention to this. Shame on me. Clearly it is a testament to my forgetfulness when I start every post this way.

Anyway, I was somewhat inspired by another friend's blog which aligns with a lot of my passions lately.

How often do we hear "these are the best days of our lives"? In my experience, it was always harmless enough. However, I take issue with the statement. I know I am prone to over think think many things, and I imagine not too many other people treat the subject with such gravity, but I really think there is a lot going on here.

First, I find the statement to be incredibly short-sighted. I can think back to high school when I was living the proverbial "best days of my life." However, after only four more years under my belt, I feel like I have so much more perspective and a greater capacity to appreciate the things happening to me. By all accounts, the days I'm experiencing now are far better than those I spent in high school. The very fact that my perceptions then were premature in light of my current experiences invalidates the statement in question at the time. That implies that the same could hold true now were I to say that these are the best days of my life. We can't so readily assume that the perceptions and desires we have now will stay the same as we age.

Another major point is that naming any point in time as the best days of your life is a fairly depressing declaration. By definition, if you are living the best days of your life right now, you've decided it will never get any better. Right now--when you're 18, 21, 25, 60, or whatever age--is as good as it is ever going to get. Imagine hitting your peak in high school and then having everything go downhill from there. It seems like such a bleak and sad way to think!

Now, I'm sure nobody really means it as literally as I put it. I'm sure people aren't giving up on their lives after their 18th birthday. There is something to take away from my frantic over-analysis. On any given day, it is so beautiful to think there will be another one in the future to absolutely blow this one away. It is wonderful to think that as long as we have life, we have the room to grow, learn, experience, love, or whatever we choose to do.

I think another way to think of it would be "today is the best day of my life because I have the potential to make tomorrow even better." I once heard a story of an older man who decided to estimate about how many more years he had left to live. He then calculated how many Saturdays he'd have in that span of time and put that many marbles in a glass jar. Every Saturday, he would take one out and throw it away. Well, that seems like a pretty morbid thing to do. However, it painted a great picture for how valuable our time is. Life is a finite thing, so I would encourage us not to grow complacent and peak before we are ready. I know I will never achieve perfection, but I can certainly shape my life in an upward slope and seek to improve and grow every day.

So perhaps you're reading this and thinking I think "big picture" too much. Perhaps I am so driven on continuous growth and capitalizing on potential that I miss the beauty of the day to day. I disagree. Living mindfully of tomorrow doesn't have to exclude experiencing today. As with many things in life, it should be a game of balance. Cherish today, and get ready to do the same tomorrow.

Well, I've taken something that belongs in the title of a facebook photo album and have turned it into a boring essay. However, one of the things I am really learning about life is that it is worth cherishing and one should never give up on the chance that things could get better. With that brings hope, and I think that brings joy. If we can spread that joy out across every day of our life instead of confining it to some period, that would be a pretty great thing in my book.

Ok, that's enough of my ranting. Thanks for reading.

--dp