With the end of the year just around the corner, I'd like to use this post to reflect a little on time.
Alexandra Franzen is an author who writes about her blog creativity, dreams, goals, and how to face certain adversities. My favorite article on your website is titled “Today is not over yet” (Today is not over yet.) Through her writing, she invites us, through her story, to reflect on time and our attitude toward its passage.
Why wait until December 31st to list and take our goals seriously?
Starting today, we can start many of the things we've already been thinking about and that we're clear about wanting to do. Obviously, I'm not referring to necessarily achieving big goals and dreams for the rest of the year. But rather, to getting started. To procrastinating a little less.
For today, It is enough to do some small act that gives us the satisfaction of having invested our time well.
Here I share my translation of Alexandra's article. I hope you like it.
Today is not over yet.
It was a dull, rainy Saturday. The kind where you don't feel like doing anything.
I slept until noon—and I could have slept longer, if it weren't for my boyfriend waking me up.
After driving through the rain on a long, tedious road, I was completely exhausted. I looked at my watch. It was almost 3 p.m.
“The day is practically over."I thought.
My bed looked so inviting. A nap… a Netflix marathon… maybe pizza delivery for dinner. Yeah. Why not.
“It's not like I'm going to achieve anything today.“,” I said to myself, as I prepared to lie down on the bed. “It doesn't matter if I do nothing..”
But suddenly, emphatically—as if one of my brain lobes spontaneously channeled the spirit of the guru Tony Robbins —five words echoed in my mind:
Today is not over yet.
I glanced at my bed. And I heard the same thing again.
Today is not over yet.
“OK,” I thought. “New plan.”
This is what happened next:
I forced myself to go to my yoga class. I arrived early (for the first time). I had a beautiful conversation with my teacher. I smiled. I laughed even more. I finished the class. I decided to call the local community center. Could they book me in for a massage? Miraculously: yes. I got the best massage of my life. Then, a bath as the sun set. I returned home. I discovered a new radio show. I cooked dinner. I wrote letters to my friends. I wrote a blog post. I had a brilliant idea for a class I'd like to teach someday. I wrote it down so I wouldn't let it slip away.
What started out as the dullest, laziest, most irrelevant day of my week turned into the most enriching and memorable day of the month.
He changed completely, with a decision that took a second, all because of the simple statement: Today is not over yet.
So you overslept and didn't go for a run this morning?
Today is not over.
Did you have a Coke, two cigarettes and four donuts for lunch?
Today is not over.
Have you wasted your time on Facebook, spent hours meaninglessly scrolling through your inbox, and playing games on your smartphone instead of writing your novel?
Today is not over.
If your heart beats, your lungs breathe, if you're still alive... then it's not too late to do something generous, creative, caring, fulfilling, and courageous. Today.
It's not too late to behave like the person you want to be instead of continuing a pattern of behavior you'll regret.
Maybe you're feeling tired. Maybe it's difficult. It might seem better to just do nothing.
But…
Today is not over yet.
-A. Franzen.
