Stop for a moment

I'm just sat in the library, working on my lab report (well obviously I stopped working) and I am looking through the window, where there is a beautiful sunset. At home, my window looks to the west so I always see many, but here in Oxford I feel like I rarely even see the sun. I am looking through the window, feeling torn apart - because I am enjoying my view instead of doing my work, and because I spent the entire day inside working rather than going out and making use of the day. Such dilemmas, where a beautiful day calls but I know I should work, are quite regular. And I feel that as a student I still have a lot of flexibility in terms of deciding by myself when I am free and when I work - what is it going to be like when I actually have a job?

Were we, humans, really created for such a lifestyle? Getting up in the morning, going to work and mostly sitting in offices for eight hours, then coming back home, cooking and eating late lunch/dinner, and then it is six p.m., already dark outside. Then there are always many chores waiting to be done, and so we basically work, from morning to evening. I understand that this is what everyone does, what is expected for us, yet I start wondering, in the prehistoric times people surely did not live like that. Of course they had work to do, hunting, gathering food, preparing it, making clothes, etc., but all of that is something we now do besides our 8 hour jobs. Yes, it takes us less time, but it still feels like there is more time pressure. Where is this leading us?

I often find it hard to take time for myself and to do things that I love and that relax me, or even to reflect on my life and my current problems, experiences and events. I feel like I am just jumping from one activity to the next, never stopping for a second to observe the beauty of the world around me and to ask myself what I am even doing. I am always very grateful for holidays exactly from this reason, because I can at least breathe and ask myself, what is going on.

Luckily I am very good at stress management, I rarely get stressed about anything, but I see my friends trying to make all the deadlines and being pressured by a variety of decisions. Besides doing our course we all also have to focus  on our future careers, meaning writing internship applications and doing a variety of other activities to boost our CV. And then, of course, socialising as well. The day simply does not have enough hours to do all that, and that leaves us without any time to appreciate our lives, they become a burden rather than a beautiful gift, which can make them seem pointless in a way.

I think that with this lifestyle, many people have not only stopped taking the time to value the world around them, but have even forgot how to do it. And what can you do, when you stop seeing the beauty of the world around you? I can imagine it gets depressing, and a different, perhaps virtual world may seem more appealing, also because it is an easier world with fewer problems and stronger brain stimuli, making unconscious responses faster.

Still, I think the real world is better. So,
let's stop for a moment and enjoy its beauty.