Fairly Normal Human



Once upon a time I used to think I was a special snowflake, and completely different to everyone else. As I am growing older I am realising that actually, I am one of a great herd of similar human beings and we all follow social, cultural and biological patterns that we share with everyone else around us. Paul and I took the girls camping for a few days at the ridiculously picturesque Liffey Falls here in northern Tasmania. There were maybe 70 people strewn around the campground along the river, and we all turned up at the one toilet at exactly the same time, every single time.



Right after Christmas I had a sudden urge to clear out clutter, and turned up at the op-shop drop off point with approximately ten carloads of fellow citizens who had exactly the same idea at the same time. And even though I pretend that random dates like January 1 don't affect me at all, I have so far in 2019 been unable to resist making plans and resolutions for the new year. I daresay if you were to meet me now and again at the end of the year, you wouldn't even recognise me, I would be so improved! I will be so much more thrifty, less wasteful, slimmer, healthier. My house will be calm and uncluttered. Maybe even clean. I will never use another piece of plastic ever again. My garden will be bursting with picturesque goodness. I will be so much more accomplished. I will have magically learnt to speak French. I will have finished my novel. Goodness, I can't think how it is that I even came to be sitting down, and clearly this is my last cup of tea for 2019.


In actual fact though, Day 10 of the brand new year finds me just pottering through life in my usual muddle. I decluttered four bags of opshop detritus that has been sitting in my bedroom for months, then I stopped. I cleaned two shelves of the fridge, then stopped. I have been painting my study and inadvertently traipsing paint all over the house on the soles of my feet, so then I have to stop painting and clean the floors instead. I run errands, buy groceries, drive Posy because she has Places To Be, and today I started work again, which means money, hurrah, but time slipping away through my fingers..


And again, like every person of a certain age everywhere in every generation I start asking myself, "Where does the time go? Where has it gone? How exactly do I seize the day, instead of letting it seize me, which is how it feels at the end of many of my days.."

I don't have any answers, by the way, just thought I would share the questions.

I am staring out of my dining room window at the beautiful golden evening light right now. One part of my brain is preparing to present to me the very long list of productive activities I could be undertaking right this very minute. Another part of me is saying, "Sit a minute and admire how the day lillies are glowing in the sunlight." And I am glad I did because here I am seven minutes later and the sun has gone from the lillies and who knows when they will be so beautiful again?

The wonderful thing, though, about being middle-aged, is that although I have realised that I am not a special snowflake, I really don't mind, as once I would have. I really rather enjoy being a fairly normal human.



Comments

simplelife said…
I read a comment today that really hit the spot for me, " I don't need a new me, I was awesome last year".
I think normal/average/ordinary are the best goals to have.
And may I say how lovely it is to see you back here .😊
Cheers Kate
Jo said…
Kate, thank you for your concerned email today. It was so lovely to hear from you! Ha, yes, love that quote. Don't we just get our knickers in a knot about future imaginary perfection. But I am one of those people who fail the 'sacrifice the present for the future' test. I'd pretty much always choose the cup of tea and a nap now over being more perfect later. And yet.. I still make ridiculous and unrealistic resolutions.. along with everyone else:)
Anonymous said…
Glad to have you back! Ordinary and simple are good...I use to have these unrealistic expectations of what I would "become" with every new year, and Failing miserably at the end of the 12 months.Wisdom has come with age, I look for growth, and some new learning, and peace. Lots of peace. (and yes...the occasional uncluttered house :) ). To a great, ordinary 2019, dear Jo!
Patricia/ USA
Linda said…
I loved reading your blog post today and everything resonates with me although I'm quite a few years older than you. Yes, enjoying all those special moments are SO important. Taking time to smell the roses, or in your case gazing at the lilies, is far more important than washing up or cleaning! Great to see you back in blogland, I've missed you.
Jo said…
Patricia, I am just loving the calm acceptance of what is that has come to me as I have gotten older. If only I could keep getting wiser without any of the other problems that come with ageing..

Linda, isn't it sometimes just so hard to sit still and appreciate the moment of now? Right now I am writing on the verandah, and also admiring bees in the artichoke flowers. However I also can't help but plan how to preserve all the apricots and tell myself to go pick some kale to put in the dog's dinner that I am also cooking out here on the verandah in the crockpot. Still, it is a nice moment, nevertheless:)
Anonymous said…
Welcome back, Jo. I've missed your blog and your commenters too. I am determined to take time to enjoy the garden this summer. We work so hard in it that often we forget to just sit there and soak it all up for a bit. Maybe that's a metaphor for life too, and we only realise it as we get a little older!

Linda in NZ
Jo said…
Linda, ah, yes, I find that somewhere to sit in the garden just adds so much pleasure and inducement to enjoy the wonderfulness of the green and the trees and the bees and the sun and the flowers.. so much out there to enjoy, isn't there?
GretchenJoanna said…
I think you are a special snowflake, unique certainly, and yet, even snowflakes are more like each other than they are different...

Your enjoyment of the lilies and the wisdom that comes with age - is encouraging as usual!!
Jo said…
Gretchen Joanna, yes, we are more alike than we are different.. so true, and something I am quite cheerful to acknowledge these days. I have lost interest in being seen as special and different, which is lucky really:)
Beznarf27 said…
Lovely! 2 posts in my RSS Feed Reader because I have been so busy out in the garden I missed them! I love reading your posts Jo. You have become my stoic hierophant (that is "hierophant" NOT "elephant"...just clarifying that...) and I gain so much from your thoughtful delicious posts. Liffey falls is glorious. We went once. It might be time we went again (I might go to the toilet before I leave though ;) ) I, too, am loving middle age. I appreciate fully my same-old-same-oldness and I find that I am becoming more tolerant of other peoples foibles as I realise that the older I get, the more I "get it" I think that's how its meant to be but like you, I find myself at the end of the day thinking "where the heck did it go? What did I "do" today?!" It turns out "doing" is a social media thing designed to sell programs and products and "experiences" and "trips away" etc. rather than to leave us feeling satisfied and joyful at the end of our simple day and if we want to sit and contemplate our (in my case, somewhat expanded since Christmas...) navels, we should be able to! Thank you for this lovely post Jo and Happy New Year :)
Hazel said…
Late to the party but I've missed you and your commenters as well. Glad to hear from you again.
Jo said…
Fran, ok, I had to look up hierophant, and that is a bit too daunting. Can I be your Stoic elephant instead??

Hazel, I am enjoying a return to regular writing:) And reading all the best commenters on the internet xx

Popular Posts