by Lyn Paul (1965)
What... are
we doing?
Running,
Rushing
Shouldn't
we...
Be slowing
Down?
Losing Life
We should be
living
Except
We are not!
We are
working
Hours long
Earning,
spending
Yet not
living
Running,
rushing
Constantly.
Ageing...
Before Our
time
We are not
living
Too Busy!
Running,
rushing
To get nowhere.
On
Arrival...
You stop,
Breathe.
Think.
Think again.
Running,
rushing - WHY?
We Need to
live
To feel
To breathe
The Speed of
Life
Sometimes the Human Race is its
own worst enemy, with each Homo Sapien carrying its own agenda and daily
affairs. Over time, those agendas seem
to overtake our life, turning our individual peaceful tranquility into a
marathon that never seems to end. When I
was reading the poem I posted above, I began picturing Grand Central Station
and Times Square; whenever I visit the two I seem to be surrounded by a swarm
of people hastily clicking away with their high heels to a meeting or with
luggage in tow to make a flight. It’s in
both places that I sometimes pause a moment, the only stillness in a chaotic kaleidoscope,
and let the colors swarm around me; it’s in those moments I find tranquility, a
calm before I reenter the Gulf Stream.
As my last days as a High school student and two years as a teen
approach, I too find myself losing that sense of calm, becoming a baby turtle
traveling across the globe at blazing speeds, unable to break free from the currents;
each day seems to slip from my grasp as the homework and exams pile up and darkness
sneaks up upon me at the most unexpected moments. Sometimes I find myself typing away at my
computer, intrigued in an assignment, only to be pulled away by my dog barking
at the window. It’s there that I am
surprised and say into space, “oh, it’s already dark”.
While it’s okay to be engrossed in the activity resonating in each of our
lives, I’ve noticed more and more that mine seems to be slipping away; where
have my 17 years gone? It seems like
just yesterday I began high school. This
flood of emotion came to me when I came across a website entitled 100 Happy Days; its sole mission is to challenge people to find something in their daily
life that makes them happy, 100 days in a row.
While it seems like a fun challenge, what interested me was the site’s
statistic where it stated that “71% of people tried to complete this challenge,
but failed quoting lack of time as the main reason. These people simply did not
have time to be happy.” It made me
really think, have I been happy today?
Was I happy yesterday or the day before?
Am I too stressed and busy to be happy?
I really think that sometimes we let life rush by us so fast, that we
only recall the stressful, tiresome, work-filled moments because we spend a
majority, if not all, of our time focusing on it. (At least, this is the case for me, I in no
way want to speak on the behalf of others and be wrong.) No wonder, according to The NationalInstitute of Mental Health (NIMH), 3.3 million American adults are diagnosed with depression each
year. And what about the thousands of teenagers
and adults that go undiagnosed with clinical or even temporary depression each
day?) I myself, although not clinically
affected, sometimes find myself depressed for no reason and I wonder if society
is to blame. To me, it seems as if happiness
is no longer an expectation or daily part of society.
With this in mind, I’m tired of overworking and stressing myself; it’s
time to dwell and celebrate the good, not the bad moments in our lives. For this reason, I decided to sign up for the
challenge. Will you?
To Sign Up:
- Visit http://100happydays.com/ and sign up (it's not required)
- Post a picture to any of your social networking sites with the Day #, a description and the hash tag #100happydays
