I am sitting in my Roman apartment (across the entire Atlantic Ocean from my home in New Jersey) with an open jar of Nutella right next to me. Next to the jar of Nutella is a glass of wine, freshly poured. I should probably be in bed getting ready to sleep-----it's getting late. Or is it early? It's only10pm. Kind of late? Eh, it's all relative.
I am listening to a song I've recently come obsessed with, from the 1960s movie, "It Started in Naples", starring famous actress Sophia Loren. The song is called, "Stay Here with Me" (Resta Cu'mme), by Paolo Bacilieri. It's an old song, romantic and wistful...it speaks to my heart. I guess it isn't that old...only 50 years or so. I supposed it's quite new actually, compared to ancient music from the Renaissance.
Over the past couple weeks, I have been constantly thinking of the theory of relativity. Normal, right? OK, so my thoughts are abnormal---- eh, it's all relative.
Ever since I was a young girl I remember being obsessed with the idea of a $100 bill and its changing values. Take a $100 bill given as a tip at a diner after breakfast. The sum of money is large, and perhaps superfluous. Or maybe you found a $100 bill on the bottom of a swimming pool. THE LUCK!!! Then you open the newspaper and you see a car advertised for $100-----CHEAP?!?!? It must be a toy car.
Your 30th birthday is next week. You are in a panic---you look at your left hand, bare of a wedding ring. You look enviously are your friends excessive social media posts of engagement/wedding/baby photos. "I'm 30. I'm old. And I haven't accomplished anything my friends have. I am still single". But then, you look at your life and what you have done in your 20s. And you find that you have stories of exuberance and excitement. These stories are priceless. They are TIMELESS. You realize that you are 30 years young, and you have the rest of your life to do what all your friends did in their 20s. You realize that you have traveled more, you have stepped out of your comfort zone more, and you have gained incomparable life experience from being independent and alone. So, you are doing pretty well.
You realize you are fat and ugly. You haven't exercised in quite some time and you have been eating bad. Your face is breaking out, and you just don't feel yourself. But then you turn on a TLC show in which a 700 pound person is being wheeled out of their house because their obesity has crippled them. You look down at yourself, and see only a couple of rolls on your stomach. You are in pretty good shape after all. You'll go to the gym and eat better and in a couple of weeks you'll look as good as new.
You are getting on an airplane. You are about to travel hundreds or thousands of miles away. You are really nervous about the experience of flying--you did just read on the news about that one plane that crashed and was never found. You sit on the plane. You realize that thousands of planes take off and land safely everyday. You remember hearing that statistic that more people die in car crashes then plane crashes. I guess you are pretty safe. The universe is a big place- you are only going a thousand miles. It's nothing. You are just traveling across the ocean, it's not like you are traveling to another galaxy.
You go to the doctors. You haven't been feeling well. You hear that you have a diagnosis that is very bad. You know that you are going to have a life full of medicines and treatments. Yet, you will be able to live. You are okay. You are able to continue to live your life and your dreams---in fact, many people won't ever know that you have a sickness. You are lucky.
You found out that your boyfriend has been lying to you. Cheating on you. You are extremely angry and hurt that someone could be so cruel, so heartless. Then you realize that this boyfriend could have been your husband. You could have had 3 kids, and found out that someone was being unfaithful to you. In fact, you feel extremely grateful for having found out about his lies now when you did. Thank God you are not wasting anymore of your breath and energy on someone who is unworthy of your love.
Depression. Anxiety. Happiness. Excitement. Fear. Peace.
These feelings are simply created from our sixth sense----relativity. Our life is either good or bad, depending on how we look at it. It is about our perspective. Our perspective changes the reality of our life.
So, as I sit here---in my Roman apartment, not far from home at all. I realize I am only a Skype call away from all my loved ones. I had a few spoonful's of Nutella, which were well deserved after my long day at school caring after 7 year olds, preparing and presenting to their parents, and going up and down stairs countless times. I sip on wine that I am only able to enjoy as cheaply and organically as in Italy. I listen to music that was sung by an actress who is only 80 years young, Sophia Loren. I reflect on my life and realize how blessed I am.
For our life is very short- and we only have one chance. So we must live in the moment.....of relativity.
It is all relative...Think about it.
Change your perspective. Let perspective change you.
