A Breather

One day, I was waiting for my train at a small countryside stop, but it was significantly delayed. I was very displeased at first, but then I thought better of it. Since my unhappy attitude wasn’t going to make the train arrive any sooner, I decided to stop fretting about it. Instead, I took advantage of the unexpected delay by having a look around the countryside.

As I ambled away from the train station, I saw that the weather had finally cleared up after days of gray skies and rain. The landscape was bathed in bright sunlight under the azure firmament. An older woman was weeding in a vegetable garden not far away. A flock of sparrows descended from the sky and landed near her. The woman smiled, and then seemed to be talking to the birds. They chirped in response. Suddenly one of the sparrows fluttered its wings and rose into the air before diving into a field. It pecked several times at the ground and then lifted off with an earthworm squirming in its beak. The bird looked proud, as if showing off its catch to its friends.

The woman was tickled to laughter by the sparrow’s “performance.” I laughed too, but not in a completely relaxed way.

The sun gradually sank lower in the sky. I sat on a railway tie and drank in the scenery. Rapeseed plants filled the farmland on both sides of the railroad tracks. The plants were flowering, and yellow blossoms blanketed the fields. Soothing breezes rustled and swayed the flowers like waves in the ocean. The scene was so beautiful it took my breath away.

By then, I no longer cared when my train would arrive. Instead, I was thankful for its delay. Because of this unexpected episode, I was given a chance to detach myself from my busy life and take some refreshing time off. I was given a chance to lose myself in the beauty of nature and witness that delightful scene between the woman and the birds.

In today’s fast-paced society, many of us are like machines that never stop running. We rush from place to place and task to task. There is always another item on our to-do list to take care of. With the wheels of our lives constantly turning, our youthful days and the prime of our lives slip away unnoticed. When we get stuck in our hurried, harried lives, how many other precious things slip right through our fingers and are gone before we know it? Often it isn’t until some health issues emerge that we begin to learn to take it easy.

I often reminded myself of this after I returned home from my trip that day: You are here to live life, not to rush through it. Don’t become so caught up in a vicious cycle of hurrying through things that you never stop to admire life and everything around you. Life is like a river. If you allow yourself to be constantly swept along by the currents, the scenery on both sides of the river will simply pass you by. Be sure to take time to pause, look around, reflect, and recharge.

I learned to pace my days from that day on. I’d occasionally snatch half a day of freedom, go out in nature, and revel in its beauty, its tranquility, and its wisdom. In the middle of a busy day, I’d take a breather by listening to some classical music or reading a short essay. These things helped me relax and unwind. I tried to make the most of the time I spent with my family by really focusing on them instead of having half of my mind on something else.

Life is short. You surely notice how time flies. Didn’t I just turn 40 yesterday and now 50 is staring at me? Many of us have felt this way. Remember that there is no rewind, no going back. Don’t let life pass you by. Pause to take in the scenery and discover all the beauty life has to offer.