Ball-Peen Hammer Moment

Have you ever read or heard something that made you feel REALLY stupid?  You know, those DUH times.  I call them Ball-Peen Hammer moments.  Where you feel like you were hit in the middle of the forehead with a Ball-Peen Hammer.  I had one of those in the last chapter of The Slight Edge.  It was so significant that I even uttered an exclamation loud enough for my husband to ask, “What?” from the other room.

It was actually an excerpt, so here it is in full:

Some day, when I have the time, I’m going to … Some day, when I have the money, I’m going to …

Have you ever said that?  “ Some  day ...” It’s a way we have of reinforcing the illusion that the future is safely far removed, that it doesn’t really touch us.  It’s a lie.  Not an intentional, willful deception, but a lie nonetheless.

Let’s say that, “some day,” I’m going to travel around the world.  If that’s really true, if I absolutely intend for that to happen, then I’m making plans.  If it’s not practical today for me to just up and circumnavigate, I can look at what needs to happen first, and second, and third, to end up with that result.

(HERE COMES THE BALL-PEEN MOMENT)

When I set that process in motion, the words “some day …” disappear. I’m making it happen today, right now. In a very real sense, I am already taking the trip. It may be three years before we actually take the trip, but the words “some day…” no longer apply, so I stop using them

When I say “some day …” I’m not really talking about the future.  The future is a reality that I’m connected to by what I’m doing right now.  “Some day …” is about some vague possibility that I’m not taking seriously.

“Some day …” is not a vision of my future.  “Some day …” is a fantasy – nothing more.

Here’s the damage we do with this illusion.  We give weight to our “some day …” fantasies; we squeeze some sense of enjoyment from them as if they were real – and thereby give ourselves permission to take no practical action whatsoever while we swim in the comforting sense that those some-day scenarios will move closer to the unfolding present on their own.

They won’t.  The wistful, wouldn’t-it-be-nice pretending of maybe-futures do not insert themselves into your reality of their own accord.  You’ve got to go claim them.  Ask yourself: “What is there in my life that I hold as “Some day …’?”

Some day … The eighth day of the week.  The only day that never comes.

This is the day – this one.  Right here.  Right now.

-          John David Mann, The Eighth Day of the Week

Years ago I had replaced, “when I get a-round-to-it” with “some day …”  Before reading this I had always held the notion that saying “some  day …” was being positive and hopeful.  Not anymore, I’m either planning the “some day …” thing or actually doing it, I will live on the eighth day right now!!!