When I feel frustrated with life, I want to be able to call my best girlfriends and meet them for something to eat or drink – whenever I need, and whenever I feel like it. (Think Friends or Sex and the City!) I want to go and have a few laughs, witty conversation, and have all my problems solved in 30 minutes; well actually 20 because there are no commercials in real life. And, like the people on TV, I want to have nice clothes to wear, hair and makeup done to perfection, and be able to wear anything and look good.
If life imitated art, at the very least, we’d all have a group of friends at the ready, to go, to do, or just to be… together.
Real Life Relationships – Are They Extinct?
It seems as though we don’t have (or make) as much time anymore to get together for breakfast, lunch, coffee or whatever. Quick texts have replaced actual human contact. These are the microwaves of conventional communication. In less than five minutes you too can exchange a heartfelt sentiment, make a dinner date, or console a friend. Unfortunately, it just isn’t the same as a slow cooked conversation.
It appears that many of our ‘IRL’ lives have been preempted by engaging instead with our technical devices. Time is flying by quickly with forwarded jokes and memes sent to show someone is thinking of you. And when we remember that our smart phones are smart enough to also make a phone call, sometimes our only time to connect with friends and loved ones is from the car.
This Is Life in the Fast Lane
I call it ‘windshield time’. We’ve gotten so busy that catching up is more like giving the cliff notes version of our lives instead of taking time to share our whole story.
I guess windshield time is better than no time at all, until you get bumped, not from the speeding car behind, but for another seemingly more important call. Beep, beep, your windshield time is now over.
How is this affecting the quality of our health? Our lives? Are we losing touch (literally) and missing out on spending time with the people we care about? Are we oblivious to the rambunctious routine into which we have fallen? What will be the fall out?
Unfortunately, the answers to these questions cannot be wrapped up in a 30-minute sitcom, or here in 800 words, or in a story, bookended by “once upon a time” and “they lived happily ever after.”
This Is Real Life; Not a Sitcom or a Fairy Tale
And the good news is that life is not like a fairy tale. Honestly, who would want an evil queen summoning some guy to go rip out our heart?! Or an evil witch who throws travelers and little kids into her oven to eat them?! And news flash: there is no prince who will arrive on a white horse to give us a kiss and make our life pure bliss.
Whether it’s bedtime stories, primetime stories, rom-coms, sit-coms, or good old-fashioned reruns, it is make- believe.
And I propose that we make believing a way of life. (See what I did there?!)
Believing in the ability to make time for friends and in the healing a hug from a friend can bring. Believing that most people are good and not evil and believing that we can write the script for our lives and then let go and let it play out allowing for organic, orgasmic, cosmic, serendipitous magic to happen.
What Would You Choose?
I asked in the beginning if you wished that life could be like a sitcom or comedy series. The truth is, I’m guessing we probably wouldn’t want laughter that comes from a can or for things to be wrapped up neatly in designer clothes and tied with a sparkly bow in 30 minutes; would we?
While those shows are a great escape from some of the devil in the day-to-day details, isn’t it the ordinary imperfect moments that we truly treasure? The moments when we’re in our sweats, bras and make-up off relaxing, sitting with people we love laughing and crying, crying from laughing or doing nothing in particular at all. Aren’t these some of the moments when we feel most connected, carefree and comfortable?!
Maybe we need to take time out from being behind all the screens and instead create more time for meaningful real-life experiences, with real-life face time, in real time?! What do you say?
What Are Your Thoughts?
Do you make time for people who are important to you? Do you text more than talk on the phone? Are you too attached to your phone?
