Something to believe in

Written By Francesca Liviero

It’s always nice to have something to believe in…

My dad always told me off for using the word ‘nice’

So, rephrase

It’s always wonderfully, amazingly, lovely to have something to believe in.

Ok…over-kill.

 

Some people’s ‘nice’ things to believe in are:

  • God/Religion

  • The future

  • Themselves

  • A better tomorrow

  • The present moment

And then of course there’s always:

  • Peanut butter

  • Chocolate

  • And meditation

 

This thing we call ‘hope’

Maybe it’s more about just being content with where we are and feeling hopeful about the future. Wherever that may be…

 

Something to look forward to

After leaving the world of study to go and work, I can see why people say, ‘you don’t want to grow up’

You go to work to earn money to pay for bills, to buy food. You go to sleep. You go to work to earn money to pay for bills, to buy food. You go to sleep. You go – boring!

That’s an existence to me, not living. You don’t live to work. It’s nice (I mean, ‘wonderfully, amazingly, lovely’ to have things planned outside of work) To have a life.

For me, I love the gym and recently I started swimming again.

I take language classes.

I meet up with friends. (Which normally involves food)

I go to yoga in the park every Saturday

I plan the occasional weekend or holiday away

 Too many hopeful plans, ain’t got no hope

Sometimes we over-plan and it’s just not realistic.

A lot of things you just can’t plan for.

I don’t know where I’ll be two years from now, next month, next Monday…

Too much structure, too much organization – sure that would be nice (amazingly brilliant) for my OCD mind. But it ain’t reality. Or much fun either!

 

Futuristic hope

If we are always hoping for something. Hoping…Wishing for:

  • Friday (or in my case Sunday as my weekends are Monday/Tuesday)

  • To find ‘the one’

  • To eat peanut butter (you gotta’ wait for ya online order Francesca!)

  • To have ‘the body’

  • To have money

  • For that moment when everything makes sense in life (never)

  • For the midlife crisis to not happen because it happened already, right…?!

  • For happiness

  • To be a tai chi master (I swear when my time in Beijing is up…)

Do we forget the now? Everything we have right now. What we’re doing right now.

To learn to be content; right here, right now.

 

Why do we need something to believe in?

Maybe because we’re human and it gives our life meaning.

Maybe because we don’t want an existence, we also want to live.

Make exciting plans

Know that not everything (most things) will never go to plan

Find a religion, a faith or be like me and find peanut butter instead. (Sorry Italian, very Catholic grandma…)

 

It’s 7:02pm Beijing time

I hope to eat soon

I hope to get a haircut this week (not like last time in China, ‘wonky fringe say hi’)

I hope to keep learning while I live here

I hope to trust things will work out

I hope to keep living my best life

(P.S. I hope that peanut butter could be on tap, I hope that good peanut butter in China was cheaper, I hope that…)

I hope that I never stop believing in something;

IN MYSELF

IN PEANUT BUTTER

IN MY LIFE

In the little things that make my life mine and amazingly, wonderfully;

…lovely.

Francesca Liviero
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