Friday, September 9, 2011

Five Minute Friday: In Real Life........

Today I'm linking up to Lisa-Jo aka the gypsy mama, who chooses a topic every Friday and writes for five minutes.

Only five minutes
And the rule is that whatever you write about in that five minutes is what you posts. No editing your thoughts. Today, her topic choice is "In Real Life....."

Ready. Set. Go......

Movies, television and media play a big role in our everyday life. Many of the shows we love to watch depict characters lives very different from our own. We view on screen relationships that work no matter what is thrown at them, they work through the issues, seem to forget the problems existed and most of the time seems they live in a perfect world. Oh, sure there are bumps in the road for characters in sitcoms but they always have a rainbow ending just around the corner. Sure, it is good entertainment, but it is not made for real life.

In real life problems arise and they don't get solved in 30 minutes, in fact it can take months or years to work out the kinks of real life. In television and movies, for the most, part no matter the problem, there are happy endings and happy endings that happen rather quickly.

It is hard not to think about that as we listen to debates on television on the state of our country. Many without jobs and have lost everything and locally, many who have lost their homes in a blink of an eye due to wildfires. These days, it is hard to not know someone who is going through a bitter divorce or fighting a heartbreaking custody battle over their precious children. These are real made for television problems, but in reality, these are real life struggles that won't find a quick and easy fix or resolve. For some, it may be actually feel like a bump in the road and they will move forward, for others it may take years.

Real life involves dealing with all kinds of people in our every day lives that in all honestly if we had to chose, we'd not chose them in the first place. But the reality is, they are intertwined in your real life and sometimes, you just have to deal with them the best way you can. Is it perfect? No...but it is reality and we have to make the best of it.

In real life, we live our lives in record speed. We are always in a hurry to get to something or be at something and can not wait to get there. In living our lives at warped speeds, we don't have time for family, friends or even simple pleasures to add "life" to our days. Some of us live with family so close, we see strangers on the street more than we see our own family members. Some live with the notion that we have hundreds of friends, after all, we have our friends list on facebook to reiterate that fact. Yet we don't pick up the phone to call a single one or arrange a meeting for lunch or have any of them be an active part in our lives. It is as if we are all living in glass houses peeking into each others lives from the outside looking in. That is what real life has come to.


Television families such as The Waltons, The Inglles or even The Bradys all lived in perfect worlds, with problems that had perfect answers which were always solved in the end. Everything always turned out the way we thought it should and left us with a feel good feeling. Likewise, there was always time for your family, friends and neighbor. If one of these folks needed you for any thing, nothing was put in front of them, they had your full attention and help. I know that is not reality today, but it sure would be nice if a little of that practice was used today.

But in real life...it takes much more than that ideal to make our lives work and many of the important things to a full life are being omitted just to survive. The simple things.....a walk in the park, a hug from a loved one, a phone call, a visit from a friend....these are things that there seems to be less and less time for. In real life, we are too busy being self absorbed in our problems and struggles. We are too busy trying to be everything to everyone that we are missing out living. Life waits for no one.....not for when you have more time, when the kids are grown, or somedays....it just keeps on going and you never get that time back. Life is not easy, especially in the times we are living. It is how we approach it and what we decide is important enough to make time for that will make all the difference in our every day lives. Will it be easy? No...but the things that are important generally never are. Real life.......make it a good one starting today........Stop.

6 comments:

  1. Wow, all that in five minutes? I'm impressed!!! :-) And it's so true, too. Happy Friday!

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  2. what a lesson for us all. I have been thinking about this for a good while. I think we are missing so much in life and we don't realize it. Great post.

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  3. Well said. It sounds like you have given this much thought. Thanks, Suzanne!

    XO,
    Jane

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  4. Our daughter loved mtv's the real world until she roomed with 4 other gals from college, that did not last long..she thought them mostly, spoiled, they all thought they were entitled to everything including her possessions, she moved in with a gal from a wealthy family and she was her aha moment, my daughter taught her how to behave and not be so selfish her family adores our daughter and were very kind to her, but our child still thinks people with means (MONEY) just don't get it, the working people get it and then some, I could never have taught her about life until she went to a public university and roomed with her friends who graduated from that university..she is now and forever has been aware MTV'S the real world is a bunch of hoohah......just saying, actions speak louder than words and I do think the world is not changing for the better, poor people have to spend an inordinate amount on food, clothing, transportation, and getting a home for real is out of reach forever, sadly the rich never know those aches for a real home..just saying!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  5. I would imagine this post Suzanne stirred a lot in a lot of folks. You hit on things we don't want to think about much less feel uncomfortable about.

    FB is so far from reality that I have deleted my account. You only hear about how wonderful someones life is, or how wonderful and perfect their kids are, they sure don't paint a true picture of the real world. It is superficial to me, as I suspect you have seen the same thing.

    Stop and smell the roses or sagebrush as I say, life is too short to worry about things you can not control, people who don't look your way or anyone who does not make time to be a friend or family member. You reap what you sow....and some of us just don't get that!

    Great writing......very specific and caused at least me to take a thought or two in where my own life is going.

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  6. Hi, Suzanne. You touch on many issues that I have rolled around in my mind. We definitely are a society that wants the quick-fix, perhaps, partly to blame on our entertainment. Or, perhaps, we all know that life is hard, so we like the 30 minutes of fantasy as an escape from the hardness of this life.

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Sometimes someone says something really small, and it's like it fits into this empty space in your heart!

Thank you for stopping by and leaving your thoughts here, they really mean a lot to me!

Suzanne

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