If you're feeling a bit overwhelmed and out of touch, you're not alone.
Oh, sure, we're more connected with the world around us than ever before – what with telephones, radio, TV, Internet and the newest trend of all – social media. But the more connected we get, the more disconnected we become.
We have the ability to know, and see actual images of world events that we can do nothing about within minutes of their occurrences. We have the "inside scoop" pushed at us constantly by critics who are ever so happy to digest world events for us and tell us what we should be thinking and how we should be reacting to each new world-wide development. And, we have marketers who have stepped up their demands that we take action "right now" before they forever withdraw their amazing offers which will be obsolete almost before we get their announcements. No kidding, I'm still getting email offers for Christmas and Thanksgiving specials.
We can communicate with utter strangers and dearest friends and family, in a never-ending stream of chatter. The cell phone and Internet have turned our worlds into a non-stop conversation – mostly about trivia. Heck, many of us are so busy talking and texting and sorting through spam that we tune out real world activities – like enjoying a hobby, driving in rush hour traffic and paying for groceries we selected while talking non-stop to someone we'll probably see soon after leaving the store. Twitter and other delightful social media tools, appeal to our voyeur spirits and taunt us to forget our own mundane lives and check out what everyone else is doing and thinking.
We've taken our youthful practice of focusing so much on future goals and dreams that we don't enjoy the present to new levels. Now, we're busy looking past the present here-and-now in constant search for that elusive something-out-there-that-we-might-be-missing at this very minute.
It's not entirely our fault. We live in a world where every minute there's a crisis somewhere. We're trying to micro manage our understanding of our lives, while confounding our ability to react and think clearly before going off on new tangents. If we blink or hesitate, we're afraid we'll miss something important. More often than not, truth be told, we're probably missing a whole lot of somethings that are important. Like reading to our kids. Like attending to our financial well-being. Like cleaning our homes. Like getting acquainted with a neighbor.
It's getting so that even trying to set a bookmark or a link to an article on the Internet that might be of interest, is often just an exercise in futility. Set it today and either you'll never have time to go back again – or worse – if you do go back, it most likely will not be there anymore.
I don't know about you, but I'm finding that I truly do enjoy the here-and-now. I'm finding that sharing this moment with real people I can see face-to-face and talk with in real time is a lot more fun and productive than the virtual world out there. It's actually a relief to work and play with family and friends, to play catch with my cat and to water real living plants that produce flowers or fruits that we can actually enjoy.