It was a big beautiful dream, but I’m not afraid to admit it. I dreamed about some day buying a nice beautiful beach house along the southern coast of France.
If I could just make enough money, that would be my dream come true. That would be my ultimate ambition. To get that nice summer house in romantic France and be able to go there whenever I want.
It was a nice goal to aim for. Something that stemmed from my initial love for France. That was the first country I ever visited in Europe, and it left an indelible impression on me at a young age when I was still just a high-schooler.
I mean, how awesome would it be to be able to afford an apartment in Paris? Or to have that nice vacation house along the Mediterranean Sea in a city like Nice?
I remembered checking out the city with my dad ten or so years ago and thinking about how beautiful it would be to some day have something like that.
That would be the ultimate enjoyment of life. But how much do we really need to enjoy this thing we called life anyways?
Do we really absolutely positively need that nice beach house? Or a flashy sports car? Do we definitely need to be enjoying ourselves in a café for brunch? Sipping a fragrant latte out in the streets of Europe?
Everyone has their own way of enjoying life. It’s kind of a crapshoot and it’s in the eye of the beholder. But, how much do we really need at the end of the day?
As I get older, I’m beginning to feel that I don’t really need that much to simply enjoy life the way it is. Maybe just reading a nice book. Or having a simple dinner with family.
Sometimes, there’s no need to pursue the extravagant. Or thinking how much you’d enjoy your life more if you simply had this gadget, or that house, or that partner.
Enjoyment is simply in the here and now. It’s not necessarily something that we need to have or achieve in the distant future.
That would be a bad mistake to make. It would be like a dog chasing its own tail. Always so close to getting it, yet still so far away.
Enjoyment is in the eye of the beholder. It could mean going out to a bar with your friends on a wild and noisy night. Or it could mean holing up in your room, reading a book on a quiet rainy day.
Enjoyment comes in a variety of forms. So, it’s okay to do whatever it is that you want to do. There’s no shame in wanting to play video games. Or meditating. Or doing something that is quiet or has an attached stigma to it.
Life is not defined to one particular set of points. There are a million different ways that one can enjoy. And there are no set standards to anything.
You don’t necessarily need to attain that nice summer home in the Hamptons to finally enjoy. You can enjoy at any moment.
I guess the key is to see the beauty in everything that you do. Even in the stressful and mundane inevitable areas of life. Even those aspects can yield enjoyment if you simply have an open-mind and see some gratitude and beauty in this.
Not everything is the way it seems on TV or on the big screen movie theaters. That is just an imaginary figment of life. Another means to enjoy, but not to get too attached to.
I used to think that true enjoyment was the way they depicted it in the movies. The hero triumphing over a villain and ultimately achieving a hard-earned goal and finally getting the main girl that he desires.
Life is never that one-sided. Sometimes, there is no clear destination. No simple goal that needs to be achieved through strife and struggle.
Sometimes, everything you ever needed can be gathered and gained at this simple moment. It takes some practice, but it’s not hard to appreciate the things that you have already.
It’s true, that it’s harder for some people than others. Some people may have true struggle putting food on the table for their family. Others may be homeless and simply trying to find a warm roof over their head.
For those people, it’s simply tough to say that you have to see beauty in the moment. How can you possibly see beauty when you are starving?
How can you enjoy life when you are trying to make ends meet? Or when you lost your job in the midst of the pandemic? Or when you lose a significant other due to the coronavirus?
It’s easy to say that you need to just enjoy the moment, but for many people it’s not that simple.
I guess it helps if you just simplify everything and not get too attached with comparing your current life with the way you see life on TV, or on Facebook, or on social media.
Don’t get too attached to other people’s perceptions. Be satisfied enough with your own here and now. And count your blessings, regardless of how dire your situation may seem.
There is always something that you can be grateful of. And it’s good that we appreciate the simple times as much as the exciting ones.
And just take it easy. Enjoy. Let life flow to you. Don’t get too pushy or attached to any one specific moment. And let true gratitude flow your way through an open door and an open mind.