Simplicity

Just sit back and enjoy life… That is one of the things that I have learned to do here. I feel like I can speak for most of us when I say that our lives are busy. Whether it be going to work, or going to class, or soccer practice, or meetings, or picking up children from rehearsal, we are always on the go. I always find myself wishing there were more hours in a day, or that my body didn’t need sleep so I can do all the things that I need to do. I think it is our culture that pushes us to do this. After all, time is money, and if your not doing something with your time, you’re wasting precious moments where you could have spent volunteering, fixing the dresser, studying for those MCATs or improving your resume. This is especially the case at Notre Dame. There is a sense of urgency where, if your not doing something at any given moment, someone else is going to pass you and get that one job, or get that spot in medical school. Sometimes I feel like its a competition of who can get the least amount of sleep. After all, people want to see you’re well rounded and can do a little of everything. It’s not our fault, its just a product of the first world, competitively driven society that we live in.

Having lived in the village of Lela for approximately 3 weeks now, I can now sum up the culture of this community in one word: simple. People here wake up at 5:00, go to mass, work from 7:00 AM - 2:00 PM, eat lunch, then taking an afternoon nap followed by doing some household chores, then sleep when it gets dark. Yup, thats right, they nap almost everyday! It is something that I always want to do more of, but feel guilty when I do. I know the first couple days here I had absolutely no idea what to do between 2:00 and 4:00 because no one was around. Presumably, everyone was napping. Whenever I talk with the people here about life back home, they are always so surprised when I say I don’t take naps. Their view on Americans is that we are always very busy doing whatever we do with no time for leisure. 

This portrayal by them is fairly accurate, and sort of sad, because I love leisure. It is something that I have tried to embrace while I am here, and hope I can sprinkle into my life when I get come back home. Although I still don’t take those afternoon naps (I still feel guilty about wasting the day napping) I have been able to go out and run / walk almost everyday. Sometimes, I just go down to the field and sit on a bench and watch the little kids play soccer, or go on long walks on the beach. Its so liberating because there is no worry about what I have to do that night, or what time I have to be home. I can just go and walk / sit / play soccer to my heart’s content. I can just go and enjoy the simple pleasures of life. I can just stop and observe the beauty of God’s creation that I pass everyday but never take the time to take in. I can just be in conversation with God with no time constraints, without worry of where I need to be or what I should be doing instead. 

I have learned that life is too long to sprint through it. I need times where I can take a step back, push everything aside, and enjoy the simple joys that is life. This is something the people of Lela do on a daily basis, and it is something I hope to incorporate into my life as well.