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Why Wait for Another Lifetime? Why Not This One?
A Reflection on Choosing the Now
Have you ever had someone tell you, “Maybe in another lifetime, you and I’ll find a way to make this work”? Those words, simple yet heavy, linger in the air long after they’re spoken, don’t they? They sound comforting at first, almost like a soft promise, a whisper of hope that, somewhere out there, in another version of us, things would be different. But it doesn’t feel like comfort when it’s said about something you’re desperately trying to hold onto something or someone you want to work in this life. It feels like a goodbye. And then I have to ask myself, Why not this lifetime?
I’ve thought about this a lot, about those fleeting moments when the timing is off, when we just miss each other, like two ships passing in the night. Why do we always talk about the “what if” of another lifetime instead of asking, “Why not now?” We look at the messiness of the life we have and think that maybe, just maybe, the stars will align perfectly in some other world where we’ve both figured it out.
But I can’t help but wonder, what if we’re missing it? What if the moment we’ve been waiting for, the chance to take a leap, is right here, right now? Why do we keep hoping for another version of ourselves to appear, when all we have is this one? This imperfect, uncertain, beautiful life.