The Days are Long but the Years are Short

As I was on my way out the door of the co-op today a woman who had been admiring Lucia and asking me the typical questions (how old is she?, what's her name?) said to me "always remember, the days are long but the years are short". Isn't it amazing how every once in a while someone you don't even know manages to say the exactly the right thing at exactly the right time? I just finished reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin it's a memoir about how Gretchen spends a year researching and applying happiness theories to her own life to work towards making herself happier (psst... Gretchen also has a website).



As a therapist I spend much of my time working with people from all walks of life to, in essence, become happier however I rarely spend time focused on my own happiness. I, like most people I know, spend my day focused on tasks -what's done...what needs to be done...what can be put off until tomorrow. After reading The Happiness Project I've been trying focus more on happiness - What makes me happy? How can I make others happy? How can I find more joy in the day-to-day? This all brings me back to the woman at the co-op today. One of Gretchen's Four Splendid Truths that she talks a lot about is just that "the days are long but the years are short" - reading that struck me. It brought me to think of how much Lucia has changed in the past short 9 months and I promised myself that I would work harder to enjoy the messy, giggly girl she has come to be. Then came today, we've been stuck in the house for days (well just 3 to be exact) first because of the hurricane, then because Lucia has been a sicky (& cranky) baby and I tried for the majority of the day to get her to take a nap with little success and then finally out of frustration and a desire to get out of the house we went to the co-op. Little did I know that was the best thing I could have done all day, I got some perfectly ripe tomatoes, some tasty manchego, some local beef chorizo, a woman gave me a perfect reminder just when I needed it and Lucia is now sleeping peacefully beside me.