is it over yet?

So I went ziplining over the weekend.  Super fun.  You should really try it if you haven't.  It's incredible.  And it's not just an incredible experience in and of itself, but it is also incredible how much the experience reflects the way I feel about life right now.  It's exciting, there is so much opportunity, so much to experience... if you can just get past that first leap and all the hype surrounding it.  For the rest of the post feel free to exchange "ziplining" for "life."

Ziplining was so exciting in theory, I loved talking about it, the idea was thrilling, and I was going to go enjoy this great time with a great group of people; what is an experience really if it is not enjoyed amongst friends?  But actually doing it was more scary than exciting.  You take all the appropriate safety measures, strap in, follow the advice of experts, but there is still no sure fire way of making sure you are going to get through it in once piece.  You literally have to stare down the mountain, watching the thin lines that are supposedly getting you across disappear to a spec on the other side.  You can see where you are going, know the way to get there, but you never know if you are going to make it.

Your scared, your unsure, but with the support of friends you close your eyes and jump of the edge.  And if you're like me, you keep your eyes closed and don't even have enough breath to scream because you haven't been breathing.  So worried about the outcome, you are barely enjoying the journey.  But you get there, you might need to ne straddled by a man- who will at least make you dinner later that night (turns out we were in such a small town that the zipline tour guide was also the chef at the restaurant we went to later that night)- and rescued the last little bit.  But you will get there.

So with my feet firmly planted on the ground, I had a whole new respect for the journey I had just gone on, and a little more confidence in it.  So round 2, I was able to jump on my very own.  By round 3, I was breathing.  And by round 4, I was smiling.  And finally by the last round I was enjoying it.  The only problem was, by the time i started actually having fun, it was almost over.  And although I can go ziplining again, and know how to enjoy it from the beginning, I do not have the same leisure with life.  If I wait until I am sure I am going to be ok to start enjoying life, I am going to be waiting forever.  And who wants to look back and say that they lived in fear and never truly got to enjoy it.

It is time to stop asking if it is over yet and start enjoying this journey for what it is.  Life is more than just hoping you get to your next destination; we have to get there, and we are going to, so why not enjoy what we can along the way?  Unlike ziplining, we can't do life again so just breathe, enjoy it for what it is, and always appreciated your feet being on solid ground.

every time it rains

I know why they wrote that song, the rain SHOULD go away and come back another day... for us only to sing the song again to make it leave once more.  We don't lik the rain, which makes sense- the rain stinks!  The skies are gray, the roads are slippery, your hair frizzes, you can't bring your nice bag out, puddles seem like the Pacific Ocean separating you and the office building with the potential to ruin your pants.  Long story short, rainy days are crappy days.  And everybody shows it; no one bursts in the door celebrating the "glorious weather" on a rainy day, unless they are trying to make a joke (which really isn't even funny considering a statement like this just remind you of the crappy weather which brings down the mood.).  But where would we be without the rain?

Rain nourishes the earth, water is necessary for life.  Not just because all living things need water, but because we need something to compare the nice days to so that we know they are, in fact, nice.  In nature, there is balance- for every weed there is a flower, for every desert an ocean, for every cat a dog.  Nothing comes without an opposite in some sense which we need to give us the full picture of life.  So as much as I hate the rain, I know it is necessary to make the nice days nicer, literally and by comparison.

Too bad it's not easy to remember that on the rainy days.  I always find myself sad, unproductive, cranky, moody- generally unpleasant.  And on top of that I find that everyone I deal with has a fairly poor disposition as well.  Makes for an even longer and more miserable day than usual.  The whole day gets me down, and the further I get the more I just find myself going through the motions and begging for the night to come and take away the day.  But I don't want to go through life waiting for it to be over.  Even if it is only one day, it is one day that I will never get back and I spent it wishing for an end.  FAIL.

Life should be appreciated for what it is, not spent wishing and hoping and definitely not just waiting.  We need to embrace what each day gives us, no matter how crappy it seems.  In fact, it is these crappy days that will give us more in the long run.  Life is, after all, what we make it more so than what we are given.  Carpe diem.  Take the bull by the horns.  Attack life and don't let it attack you.  The rain brings nourishment, renewal, invigoration.  So even if today was a bust, tomorrow is brimming with the possibility of success, don't let that one go.