Hello! You must be aware that I’m participating in Blogtember blogging challenge hosted by Story of my life blog. Today is Day #2.

Wednesday, September 4: If you could take three months off from your current life and do anything in the world, what would you do?

Hmm…difficult question. There’s a lot I would like to do and try and learn in life. Oooh! I already have visions of myself travelling around the world, meeting new people, sitting in a cafe somewhere drinking some exotic tea and writing in my notebook.

As I’ve mentioned before, I get travel-sick(the opposite of home-sick) pretty soon.

 I could be scuba diving somewhere…

Photo via Florida Memory (Flickr)

Or, I could be floating up in some balloon. (Wishful sigh!)

Photo via Pics Visit (Pinterest)

Or (and this is the most likely), I could be curled up with a good book on some beautiful beach.

Photo via Pinterest

Sounds like a perfect picture, doesn’t it?

But I wonder why so many people have these dreams of taking time off their lives. You hear it so often.

“If only my job/school/life wasn’t so busy, I would do this.” Or

 “If only I could just leave everything for a while I would…”

Or some other version of  “If only…”

What is it about our current lives that makes us want to run away. Sure, everyone needs a break. Everyone needs a holiday sometimes. But specifically, what is it about our present that makes us want to live in the past, the future or a parallel world. Why does “if only…” play such a major role?

I would be the first one to admit that I’ve spent a considerable amount of time dwelling over the past or in most cases, daydreaming about the future. There have been a number of days where life feels stagnant and unmoving, and I wait eagerly for something to happen. Or sometimes it sweeps by so fast that I have to catch my breath and hope for life to slow down. There’s always the anticipation for something good happening, tomorrow.

And, waiting for tomorrow with eagerness is perfectly fine. The trouble arises when Tomorrow starts overshadowing Today.

If only (and this is a different kind of “if only”) we could stop wanting to wait for something to happen. If only we could be in the Now completely. How good it would be if we were to immerse ourselves in the current moment and enjoy it with all our hearts.

Yes, I do enjoy holidays. Yes, I want to try a hundred different things while I’m at it. But when I’m here, in my present life, I want to welcome each day as it comes. I want to be able to savour each little event. I want to be able to enjoy every single cup of tea that I have. I want to be up to my neck in work and enjoy every moment of it. I want to listen to every song as if I’m hearing it for the first time.

I’m here. Today. Right now. And it’s a perfectly wonderful moment to be in.