River Reflection 2

When I realized that I needed to go write my second river reflection before Wednesday, I thought the idea was too insane to even consider. After all, with a week full of tests, papers, and presentations, who has time to go sit by the river anyway? I knew I needed to go, but the idea of losing even an ounce of efficiency in order to go sit and do nothing made my head spin. However, today before class I begrudgingly got up and went to sit and watch the river in a nice spot right by the restaurant the Woodshed. When I first sat down I found myself constantly thinking about what would need to be done later today, and I decided I would try to make this time useful by organizing out my week, while I just “checked the box” of going to the river. However, as time went by these thoughts of what lie ahead in the week slowly faded away, as then I could only feel the wind whirl past me and the sun hit my face.  After awhile I just found myself sitting and thinking about nothing, which was surprisingly relaxing. It is almost that sitting and observing the river reminded me that there is a world outside of TCU, and while all the various work, projects, and assignments do matter, they are not the only thing going on in the world. It seems that while I originally believed that this time spent by the river would simply be a waste, as it would not contribute anything to completing the various tasks I had in front of me, this time actually turned out to be an investment. Specifically, I believe that the time spent sitting by the river was actually incredibly well spent, as I now again feel rejuvenated after a much needed break.

            Another observation that I had which I found relevant to the aforementioned discussion was seeing two elderly people ride their bikes along the path near the bench I was sitting. Specifically, seeing the amount of fun these people were having was especially profound to me, as from an outsider’s perspective it seemed as if they did not have a care in the world.  Watching these people who likely had already lived the majority of their life, like the river, served to put the world in perspective for me. I had the thought that no matter what is so pressing in front of you, it will likely be nothing but a blip in your long life. This is not to say that many things that are difficult are not important and will have no impact on the rest of your life, but overall I believe that I tend to stress out over things in the short term and that every once in awhile I need my outlook on life adjusted to account for the fact that these issues may not matter as much as I think they do.