Savoring

I love this quote from E.B. White:

“I arise in the morning torn between a desire to save the world and a desire to savor the world.  This makes it hard to plan the day. But if we forget to savor the world, what possible reason to we have for saving it. In a way, the savoring must come first.”

I am one of those people who like to be ‘on the go’ and always ‘doing something’! My mother used to say that I had ‘ants in my pants’.

That ‘doing preference’ is one of the reasons that staying home to be safe during the pandemic has been a challenge for me.  It was also one of the challenges that I had after retiring. 

When I retired, I spent the first few months doing a big house clean out.  We also did some traveling and were on the go a fair amount with eating out, going to movies, and just doing stuff. The pandemic put a stop to the traveling and the little outings I enjoy so much with my husband, friends and family.

Over the past two years, I have been trying to shift more into ‘savoring’ mode instead of ‘doing’ mode. I still have a daily to do list but try and be more mindful and present as I go about my day. 

As a cancer survivor, I want to savor each day because I learned ‘this might be all she wrote’! I am getting better at the shift, but still have a long way to go.  I am still hardwired to be a ‘doer’.  COVID time has helped accelerate the savor shift– whether I want to or not.

Allene

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