Moments

Written by: Khadeja

All our life we are told to “Look at the bigger picture,” “Keep your eye on the prize,” and “Start with the end in mind.” But when it comes down to it, life is comprised of little moments. What is a moment? Is it a count of one breath or one blink? It is a currency so valuable that it is priceless. It is easy to gain and even easier to lose. It took a moment to meet my soulmate, a moment to lose a friendship, and perhaps the biggest moment in my life–which stretched out to what felt like eternity–was the moment I lost my mother.

In that moment, time froze, and I could not absorb what had happened. In that moment, moments of the past were wiped out and I could not for the life of me envision any new moments manifesting in the future. For a while, my whole life was just one moment. The whole world came to a standstill whilst I was going through my mourning. Other people moved around me but I stood still, paralysed. Then suddenly, that moment began to fade as I was flooded with other moments. Moments where my loved ones showed me so much care and support. Moments where my fiancé at the time was willing to be on the other end of the phone at 2am just so I could cry. I then realised that, whether I wanted it or not, life must go on. The earth did not stop just for me and my mourning, and, while I loved my mom, I had to let her go. But my timeline was forever changed. Life is now measured by either before my mom died or after she had died. Some moments are so momentous that they become a reference point.

Anything can happen at any point in time, but we get so caught up in life that we truly believe we can predict everything that is to come based on analysing a pattern of events. But life is organic. There is no pattern and no blueprint. Bad times come and just as quickly something amazing happens that takes you on a high. When we hold one of our material possessions, something that is very special to us, what tends to happen? Most of the time, we are transported to that moment when you received this gift and all the warm fuzzy feelings attached to it.

Never underestimate the power of a moment. Live it. Love it, and most of all appreciate what you have because it could very well disappear at the next moment.