Everyday Moments Can Be Extraordinary

It’s Thursday evening and my wife asks me if I can get her some soda for dinner.

The bar down the street is already closed, so I keep walking. It’s a hot summer evening. I have my wallet, my cellphone, and a mask with me.

When I get to the second bar, they don’t have her type of soda (for my girl is Coca-Cola or nothing).

Third bar. Closed. Again.

The fourth bar is opened, but they have a “situation”. Some costumers are leaving very unsatisfied with the service. Don’t quite get what was the complaint, something about masks. I have mine on me.

The barman tries to keep his head cool. He ignores me. Perhaps that’s better than being mistreated. After almost 5 minutes, he looks at me, when I explain, in a very muffled way, what I want: a cold Coca-Cola. Takeaway.

***

It’s still hot, it’s almost night now. I see my face at a store window. Behind the mask — that I’m still wearing because it makes little sense to lose them after they are on — I’m smiling. I hadn’t noticed that.

I was pretty happy about myself. I was patient, I stuck to the plan, I got what I wanted.

I was an achiever.

Now, walking back home, mission accomplished, I wondered whether I lived inside a commercial ad.

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As I got back home, I asked my wife how one would describe ads that happily portrait daily routines.

“Like picture-perfect-family ads”?

Exactly. I had a “picture-perfect-family” moment. That got me thinking.

What was that made me smile?
Are those ad moments so hard to come by?

***

Every “picture-perfect-family ad” seems so far away from our daily routine it is hard for us to realize that, although we never perceive ourselves as specials, we have great enjoyable moments in life.

I’m not good looking as a husband from those ads. My white hair is not silver shinning, I’m not a good-looking fit, I’m not perfectly unshaved.

Photo by Shawn-Olivier Boivin Blanchard on Unsplash

I needed not to be any of those things. At that moment, I didn’t see how far from a photo model I was, I just saw my smile through my eyes, and I was happy.

My happiness came from having a moment without anxiety.

Photo by Simon Migaj on Unsplash

There is a lot of advice on mindfulness, and they are important. But, it’s not only when we are ‘with ourselves’ that we should appreciate the moments we live. To be in the moment to meditate, but it’s also not to have our minds living in different scenarios at the same time.

The “picture-perfect-family” seems happy because they hold no worries. That is different from having no worries. In those ads, the kids will go to school soon, and the parents are going to work. As we do every morning. What their image doesn’t show is any sign of anxiety. As we wake up worried about how we are getting by with our daily lives, the “picture-perfect-family” is seizing the moment.

What I learned from my “picture-perfect-moment” was that perhaps we should stop anticipating our worries. After all, life is not about great deeds, but about being in touch with yourself in every moment.

*This story had its title changed in September 23rd, 2020

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Previously published on “Change Becomes You”, a Medium publication.

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