There are times when you don’t realize that you’re having a milestone experience. Other times, you know in the moment that you’re in a special situation.
This week I’m on a once-in-a-lifetime vacation with my entire family. My parents took me, my siblings, and their kids to Israel for Passover.
After my freshman year of high-school —35 years ago — we lived in Israel for the summer. I had just turned 15, but I don’t think I fully appreciated how special those moments were.
Although we’ve all been back to Israel since that initial trip, this week marks the first time since that summer that we’re all back together.
This time, I’m more keenly aware of the nature of the moment. Perhaps it’s being on the cusp of 50, or the fact that my grandmother died in the fall, but I know this trip is likely a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Because of this, I’m trying to be actively engaged and fully present as much as possible. I want to take in all the moments and preserve them in my memory.
That said, as I though about it more, I realized that every trip is really a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Even if we did this trip together every year, each time would be different.
You can’t replicate the magic. But each time has its own magic.
We can see it more easily with something like a vacation, but the same thing applies to our daily routines at home. For example, I exercise daily but each workout is different.
When we look at it from this perspective, everything is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
How would you act differently if you thought of each part of your daily as a once-in-a-lifetime experience?
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