Keep your face always toward the sunshine–and shadows will fall behind you. –Walt Whitman
My wife and I had the pleasure of spending a rare and long overdue vacation in wine country on the West Coast last week. And as glorious as it sounds, the reality was even sweeter. Scenic hikes. Wine tours. 5-course meals. Poolside drinks. And plenty of good old-fashioned California sunshine!
On that last point, the weather was perfect while the sun was in the sky, but as soon as it dipped below the horizon, the temperature would drop precipitously. Every evening, after the shadows enveloped the pool area, we would grab a drink (of course!) and head to the east side of the hotel. Once there, we soaked in every last ray of sunshine until that golden sphere slowly slipped below the mountain range.
On the final night, we took our sun-seeking to the next level. Reality, and a long cross-country trip, faced us the next morning. We recognized the importance of our ultimate Carpe Diem moment! As sunset approached, we moved our seats outside the common area and across the lawn to prolong the golden hour. We hit pockets of shadows, and the temperature plunged, but we then found a different angle to maximize the rays. We had to get creative. We had to be intentional in our pursuit. And by the end of the evening, we had strategically situated our Adirondack chairs all the way up against the highest point of the hotel. There was nowhere else to go!
We both realized it, did a quick cheers, and faced the sunshine for one final moment of warmth. We had done everything we could. We had maximized our enjoyment. And we had soaked in every last ray of sunshine.
And isn’t that the way we should approach our everyday lives?
Step Out of the Shadows
We have to constantly outmaneuver the shadows that threaten our sun-soaked afternoons. Jealousy. Bitterness. Financial burdens. Apathy. Resentment. We can spend the best years of our lives dwelling on the negative events from our past. Even though there is bright sunshine on either side of the thin shadow, we stay hunkered down in place. We hang on to the cold instead of the warmth. We soak in the shadows instead of the sunshine. And soon, the sun sets over the mountain and we can only feebly cling to our thin blanket of regret.
We have to stay ahead of the darkness for as long as possible! It takes both intention and strategy to keep moving toward the light. It doesn’t just happen on its own. And no one can do it for us. Perhaps we need to change our perspective and look for positive intentions in other people. Perhaps we need to let go of an old grudge. Perhaps we need to search inward for our own motivation. Perhaps we need to find an alternative means of meeting our obligations. Perhaps we need to look forward rather than behind. Regardless of our burdens, we can’t let our past overwhelm our present and our future. There are creative ways to make it work. And we can’t afford to spend our best years wallowing in the shadows.
Make Golden Hour Last a Lifetime
But life is not one big sun-splashed Happy Hour. Our adult lives are full of responsibility and obligations. The shadows we face are real. Even so, we cannot let them rob us of the glorious moments we deserve. It will take all the resilience we can muster to keep searching for the sunlight. It will take ingenuity, hard work, passion and, sometimes, blind faith to stay out of the shadows. But as long as we still have the will and desire to feel the sunshine on our face, we will find the way! We just need little reminders to keep nudging us toward the light.
We all know how the story ends. Eventually, the night and the cold eclipses us all. But it is all about how we live our days. And how much we soak in all the sunshine in our lives. We have to maximize our potential. We have to actively fight off the shadows for as long as possible. We have to embrace the moments and the people who help us truly enjoy the golden hours.
And, despite the obstacles, we just have to keep moving toward the sunshine.