All of us have a picture of the life we want for us. The ideal balance of all the parts coming together to create what we think would be our life. A perfect life is a pipe dream. It’s colourful; it’s unattainable.
Anything that we cannot see for ourselves feels oddly plain and simple. We look to the future and see this perfect version of ourselves, that is if we’re hopeful. We look at the past, and all we remember is how vivid and fantastic everything used to be.
The funny part is, pictures aren’t made better with colour. Sure, a splash here and there never hurt anyone. However, detail is what makes a painting come to life, and when it comes to the perfect life or the pipe dream we have in our heads, I think it is important to realise that the only place where we have excruciating detail is the present. It’s the now. It’s what we can see, experience and impact.
The past will always remain colourful until you take a closer look. The future will almost always be overflowing with hope and sunshine and rainbows until you reach it and nothing changes. Unlike the bright future or the beautiful past, you don’t have to squint to see what is right in front of you right now.
The present is where everything exists. It is where the detail lies; it is where the picture gets painted. It may or may not be a good picture in the end, but at least you’ll have gotten closer to completing it… and that is always better than an unattainable pipe dream.