Читать книгу Moments in Between - David Kundtz - Страница 26

Oops!

It seems to be characteristic of the young to rush so fast through life that they miss the best parts. But I seem to have been fairly adept at dragging that youthful characteristic along with me well into my adult years. I still have to remind myself not to hurry past my pleasure. (I often need to give this advice to myself when I am eating: My tendency is to eat too fast and not savor the food, and thus miss the pleasure.)

Businesspeople seem particularly prone to this tendency from my observation. It must be the nature of doing business, competitive and fast, and the fact that the winner—the best in the business—gets the prize of financial success.

Many successful climbers of the corporate ladder later recognize themselves as those who were so intent, so earnest, so hardworking, moving with such breathless haste up the ladder, that they happened to miss a vital element in their pursuit: the ladder was leaning against the wrong wall.

When they arrive at the top, it hits them. For example, “Oops! I am a top executive, but what I really wanted was to be a writer.” Looking back, they can recognize what they had hurried past: the high school teacher who encouraged them to write, the college prize won for essay writing, the longing to create a novel—all missed, hurried past.

Noticing and recognizing pleasures is what we gain from our moments of doing nothing, of reverie, of awakening to our true desires and passions.

It is never too late to find a new wall or climb a different ladder.

Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste they hurry past it.

—Sören Kierkegaard

Do you have an “Oops” to say about what you've hurried past?