Life Goes On
"Oh yeah! Life goes on
Long after the thrill of livin' is gone."
- Jack and Diane by John Cougar Mellencamp.
This is one of the more profound lines in rock music, and something I've pondered for a long time. What is the "thrill of livin'" that it can be gone one day? Was life meant to be that way? Is the thrill of livin' only for the young? Does there come a point at which it seems silly to dream about the future because so little of the future remains?
Maybe, when you're young, the thrill is all about what your future holds, what you can accomplish, the material gains you can acquire, what kind of spouse you'll have, how many children you'll have, how you will make a living, what kind of house you will have, and so on.
But, inevitably, one day you wake up and realize all that has now been determined and not much of that can be changed now. Your dreams have either been realized or become nightmares you've discarded.
At some point, your thoughts have to turn outside of yourself. Maybe that's one of the purposes of children. Your attention turns to their dreams before you realize that there are few of your own left in the realm of uncertainty as to how they will turn out.
Still, one day they too go their own way and want to make their own decisions and mistakes and work on their own set of dreams without our interference.
We cannot avoid being left one day with just our own lives, and maybe a partner, if we're lucky, and a future that consists of fewer and fewer years ahead.
Perhaps, out of this dilemma was born the realization that this very moment is the only life we truly have.
A lady on a bodybuilding list was lamenting recently about how little progress she was making toward her goals. I told her, in essence, "Look, short term goals are fine. We all have them, whether it's weight loss, more muscle, better definition, greater endurance, etc. But, your overriding goal must be to work out at the gym for the sake of working out, and how it makes you feel in that very moment. Any practice you engage in for the sake of short-term gains is almost always a short-lived practice."
You see, reality almost always falls short of our expectations and dreams. We have to live life because of how it makes us feel this very day, this very moment, and not because of what we expect it to deliver to us tomorrow.
- Ron Grimes
Long after the thrill of livin' is gone."
- Jack and Diane by John Cougar Mellencamp.
This is one of the more profound lines in rock music, and something I've pondered for a long time. What is the "thrill of livin'" that it can be gone one day? Was life meant to be that way? Is the thrill of livin' only for the young? Does there come a point at which it seems silly to dream about the future because so little of the future remains?
Maybe, when you're young, the thrill is all about what your future holds, what you can accomplish, the material gains you can acquire, what kind of spouse you'll have, how many children you'll have, how you will make a living, what kind of house you will have, and so on.
But, inevitably, one day you wake up and realize all that has now been determined and not much of that can be changed now. Your dreams have either been realized or become nightmares you've discarded.
At some point, your thoughts have to turn outside of yourself. Maybe that's one of the purposes of children. Your attention turns to their dreams before you realize that there are few of your own left in the realm of uncertainty as to how they will turn out.
Still, one day they too go their own way and want to make their own decisions and mistakes and work on their own set of dreams without our interference.
We cannot avoid being left one day with just our own lives, and maybe a partner, if we're lucky, and a future that consists of fewer and fewer years ahead.
Perhaps, out of this dilemma was born the realization that this very moment is the only life we truly have.
A lady on a bodybuilding list was lamenting recently about how little progress she was making toward her goals. I told her, in essence, "Look, short term goals are fine. We all have them, whether it's weight loss, more muscle, better definition, greater endurance, etc. But, your overriding goal must be to work out at the gym for the sake of working out, and how it makes you feel in that very moment. Any practice you engage in for the sake of short-term gains is almost always a short-lived practice."
You see, reality almost always falls short of our expectations and dreams. We have to live life because of how it makes us feel this very day, this very moment, and not because of what we expect it to deliver to us tomorrow.
- Ron Grimes