Life is Like a Box of Chocolates

January is in full swing and I’m already feeling behind. I’m not sure if you’re feeling the same, but this week felt like a never-ending escalator that demanded that I step on at an ever-increasing pace. I literally felt like Lucy in that episode where she is supposed to be removing candies from a conveyer belt and packaging them but resorts to eating them as the conveyer belt speeds up beyond her capacity to wrap them up. There’s an interesting metaphor within that image of Lucy; she quickly assesses her predicament and sees no other recourse but to stuff the chocolates into her mouth and uniform. That’s one way to eliminate the middle man in order to resolve the problem. Wasn’t the candy intended for someone to eat as the end result anyway?

Perhaps her solution is the swiftest way to get to the point.

It seems that we are all too eager to get to the resolution—the point where we are done. Wherever that is. January is that month. That month where we still hold our aspirations in front of us and think, if only. If only I capture the moment and hold it down and squeeze every last drop out of it, then I’ll know I tried, I succeeded.

Everywhere we turn there is advice. Productivity advice. Advice on how to be more efficient. Minimalism–the movement that has you divorce yourself from everything in an attempt to have more. More time, more life.

Of course, rushing does nothing but prioritize the finishing of a task versus the enjoyment of a task.

At first glance, Lucy seems ridiculous. But, it is really the circumstances she is in—the emphasis on speed at all costs that are ridiculous.

Perhaps this year is different from all others—perhaps this is wisdom. This year, 2022, allows us to emerge, somewhat shell-shocked after the last few years. We are expected to move back out into the sun like anemic seedlings that have been weakened but still have possibilities within them. In fact, I do notice I’m more bent over and my hair falls somewhat forward as if it were two shells of leaves hovering over my face. Or is that my mask?

This year I’m not sure I’m buying it. I’m not sure that Lucy would either. Maybe she would, now mature, step behind the machinery and shut it off. Ethel would help her and though Ricky would inevitably create a fuss, it would be the right thing. It would be best for all of us to set the pace of our lives.

Before I step out of January 2022 permanently, I’d like to forge a tempo to my own life that makes sense to me. ”It” whatever ”it” is, cannot be done all in one day. Each day should have enjoyment and if we have the luxury, we should savor the tasks we have to do. There should be time to think and look out the window and daydream. Now, before I forget, I think I’ll schedule that in…