Passengers

I like to read books and I like to watch movies. I recently came across the movie, Passengers, about a journey through space to a new home. The heart of the drama is about two passengers asleep in suspended animation who wake up 90 years too early when their ship malfunctions. As they face living the rest of their lives on board, with the lives of 5,000 sleeping passengers at stake, they navigate heart-wrenching decisions about life, death, and the will to survive. Life, as it turns out, doesn’t look exactly like they think. At the end of the movie, Aurora Lane, played by Jennifer Lawrence, said,

“You can’t get so hung up on where you’d rather be that you forget to make the most of where you are.”

This is profound. I am someone who likes to strive for something better. For the StrengthsFinder 2.0 gurus like myself, this is all about my Maximizer Strength. I can get so stuck on wanting something better for me, my family, my friends, and my clients, that I lose sight of what is right in front of me, right now. I know this about myself and I still get tripped up in my own desire to strive for something more.

But all it takes is one profound statement like the one above to shift something in me. What does that mean exactly? I do things differently. I sit outside and look at the trees. No kidding. I listen to the birds. I get away from the noise and just breathe. I look at the people around me and get curious about them. I literally bring my head up and look around. I stop the tasks, the business, the mental lists - even if it is just for a few minutes.


We don’t have to continually look ahead to make things better, or for that matter, look behind with regret. All we have is this very moment. Let’s try to make the most of it. When we do, it is a great sense of freedom.  



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