Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination: never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
- Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield -
The 4th Earl of Chesterfield is on the right track with his seize the day ethos don't you think? A person's life can be a fickle thing and it makes a lot of sense to enjoy the moments that present themselves and the moments that we create ourselves with the intention of enjoying life as much as we can; it'll be gone all too soon, so it seems prudent.
I've held to this belief for a long time and work to find and create small moments I can enjoy often rather than waiting for momentous occasions which come more infrequently. One of my most enjoyable moments is sitting at a café watching the world pass by with a cup of coffee and, if I'm totally honest, I used to do it daily. These days, not so much.
I still drink coffee, but due to the fast-paced nature of my job I tend not to have the time to sit around in coffee shops as much. I tend, most often in the working week, to drink instant coffee and whilst there's some reasonable-tasting products out there, it's just not the same...and neither is the moment.
Here's a cup of instant disappointment I enjoyed endured at work this week.
Instant disappointment
I call instant coffee, instant disappointment as it's disappointing. Sure, it has its place in the world, but if I had my way, that place would be far away from me.
Instant coffee just feels mundane to me, uninspiring, and it's hard to create a moment around it, even despite the advertisements on TV making it seem like the best thing on the planet. No marketers, it doesn't start my day well, make me feel amazing and ready to tackle the day and nope, I don't smile when I take a sip. Fucktards.
Due to my busy schedule and inability to have café-moments as often as I used to I 've been working on creating them over my weekends and have been going to favourite cafés, and new ones, to find those moments. What's been really cool is that those weekend moments feel a little more special now, considering they're not as commonplace as they used to be when I'd sit in a café every single day of the week. I'd say that's a reasonable payoff for having to drink instant coffee during the week right?
If I'm totally honest drinking instant coffee isn't the end of the world for me. I suppose what I like is that moment in the café though, the world going by, and the contentment I find there, the relaxation and time to think more clearly, or choose not to think. I kind of like the fact that coffee drinking at a café has become less of an everyday thing and more of a weekend thing; I guess that makes it more special.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised so be humble and kind
Any images in this post are my own