“Best to take the moment present, as a present for the moment” – Stephen Sondheim
I’d like to share a thing with you. I’m going to call it a ‘thing’ because I honestly don’t know if its a personality trait, a desire, or something else (probably a dream if we are being honest).
That cabin in the AI image above, I want to be there. I want to go into the woods and stay in a cabin where the world around you is so devoid of any human sounds, that it almost feels like a ‘pressure’ on the sides of your head. If you’ve ever been on the side of a mountain during a really heavy fog, the kind that keeps you from even seeing the people in your party well, you’d know the feeling. Every sound that you make is alone in that silence.
When you reach that level of isolation, I feel like you connect to yourself on a much deeper level. You start to feel more at home in your head and that is truly a freeing experience. Every footstep across those old wooden floorboards becomes a chorus of sounds that the busy world around you used to keep hidden in its hustle and bustle. The clomp of your heel, the tap of your toe, the squeak of the nails in the boards, and the relief from the wood as you step off, bliss. Such a simple thing can bring so much joy.
That’s what you need to chase in life, the little things that bring you joy. Don’t let life pass on by while you sit idling by saying, ‘I’ll do that soon’ or ‘I’ll get to it sooner or later’. The world (or at least our current corner of it) is going to hell and I’ve noticed a distinct lack of handbaskets, take time now. Find a hobby and enjoy it.
I myself take pictures. I also do A LOT of other things because I am your typical neurodivergent latchkey kid that hyper fixates on something, dives in head first, buys all the gear, and spends days obsessing over its every detail, only to loose interest and move on the the next thing, but photography always brings me back.
I can’t remember a time in my life that I didn’t own a camera, not just a phone with a camera, but an actual camera. I’ve always loved the fact that, with a push of a button, I can capture some of the light in front of me, stick it to paper, and my brain can use that to recall all sorts of memories; then I can share those memories with the ones I love, the ones I hate, the ones I don’t know, and even the ones I’ll never know. Sometimes though, I am setting up a shot and I just sit and look, not even through the camera, with my eyes, mind, and heart. I take in the moment; I make the selfish decision to keep that moment for myself and no one else. I know it will fade and probably disappear with human minds being what they are, but sometimes a moment is so special that its ok to remember it differently…