Life is Good
As LeBron pulls up with his patented parachute shot, a hush envelopes the Staples Center (yes, I refuse to call it Crypto Arena). Twenty years worth of effort, all culminating into one shot. A shot that will give him basketball supremacy. For LeBron this is a moment he never dreamed he would reach. À moment that crowns him as basketball’s King of scoring.
A faint buzzer goes off. I rub the sleep out of my eyes and recall that the buzzer is just my alarm. Today is Wednesday, the morning after LeBron claimed the scoring title. My agenda for today is a little less noteworthy. TSA precheck appointment, a cup of coffee somewhere new, finding a nice place in the sun to write, taxes at two, jokes to close out the evening. Just another day.
Is it though? For LeBron it certainly isn’t. Today he stands alone as king. But what about for the rest of us? I don’t have “break the scoring title” time blocked on my calendar. I don’t even future plans comparable to that! So then that’s it then. Today is just another day.
I’m sure even LeBron has had his fair share of “just another day” moments. Days that seem insignificant or mundane. Some that dragged on and others that seemed the same as the last. He probably had days where life was heavier than usual. Days where defeat paid him a visit. Make no mistake, it was those days that LeBron built his career off of.
So often in life, I forget about the importance of today. Instead I focus on my dreams or something to look forward to ahead. It may not seem like it at first but I lose myself in those moments. Daydreaming about who I could be and forgetting who I am now. And thus today is diminished to just another day. Would anyone want to live life if you were told most of it could be described perpetually ‘ehh’? I don’t want to speak for LeBron but I’m going to assume his answer.
If you asked LeBron if he would trade away his scoring title to replay all the games he’s played in the last 20 years, what do you think he would do? Would he take the singular moment where thousands chanted, “MVP”? Or would he take the grind, the early morning alarms, the puddles of sweat staring back at him? The crown or the journey?
Today I pondered these questions, wondering how Lebron would answer but also asking them to myself. What’s more valuable to me; reaching my dreams or living right now? That one right there pushed me back. It instantly made me check my perspective and think about my day thus far. What I recalled were beautiful things that are always there but I tend to overlook. Kind smiles from the Staples employees (now see why I refused to call it Crypto;), smells of roasted coffee, regulars laughing on benches outside, the warmth of today’s son, an album I’ve never heard of providing the soundtracking for the day, the bark of a dog who knows only today…
The ‘life is good’ sticker on my coffee cup. A simple sticker which sparked these rambling of mine. Nearly unnoticeable unless you’re looking. And it’s right. Whether you’re King James or a mediocre storyteller filling up two pages of his notebook, life is good today.
