I was watching a commencement speech given by Niel Gaiman and he said something that got me thinking. He said he had achieved something and Stephen King told him to enjoy himself, to enjoy the moment. He called it the best advice he ever got that he didn’t follow because he was always worried about the next thing or the next book.
I realized that that’s what I do. Instead of appreciating the moment I’m in and fully enjoying it, my mind’s already on the next thing. There’ll always be a next thing. There’ll always be something to worry about. If we don’t follow the above advice, we’ll never enjoy things as they happen. It’ll only be when we’re looking back that we’ll say “Oh that was a great time.”
Stephen King’s advice to Neil Gaiman has reminded me of some advice that Oprah gave when she was asked what she would tell her younger self. She said she would tell her to relax. So simple and yet so profound. We’re always worried about something. Whether we’re good enough at something, what people think of us, if our dreams will come true, and many other things. Rather than trusting that everything will be ok we stress and usually about things we can’t change. Oprah says relax and I think she knows what she’s talking about.
So to you (and me,) who’s worried about being the right height/weight/complexion, whether you’ll succeed at what you’re doing now or if you’ll meet the love of your life or wondering if things will work out, RELAX. Things will be ok, you will get to the other side of whatever’s worrying you right now. If you don’t, you’ll look back and see how much time you wasted worrying when you could have been relaxed and been enjoying the experiences you were having at that time.
I don’t know about you but I hope going forward I’ll follow Stephen King’s advice to Neil Gaiman and Oprah’s advice to her younger self.
