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.