Chill Now or Stress Later?

So a friend invited Nicholas to go shoot some soft foam dart guns on Sunday. To get ready, Nicholas packed his Saturday schedule tighter than a jar lid on a stubborn pickle jar. But then, surprise twist in the afternoon. You know how on the equator even a tiny cloud is basically carrying a rain bucket? Well, clouds rolled in with a light drizzle that sounded like nature’s white noise machine. Before I knew it, my boy was out cold, taking a nap that was way comfier than expected.

He woke up just in time for dinner, but the chef—aka me—had a plan. No cooking tonight. We had to catch the shuttle and find food ourselves. On the ride, Nicholas started listing off all the things he hadn’t finished, like a broken record stuck on “Stress Mode.” He got pretty worked up, so he decided to skip the gym, skip swimming, just eat and get home quick to attack that never-ending to-do list.

Me: “Honey, you don’t have to do all that.”

Nicholas: “Mom, I gotta get everything done today so I can actually enjoy tomorrow’s fun.”

Me: “Makes sense. So why not start enjoying now?”

Nicholas: “What? There’s nothing to do on the shuttle.”

Me: “True. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be happy. This time is yours. If you’re stressing about everything else, you’re just buying a ticket to your own anxiety party. Not worth it.”

Nicholas: “Yeah, thinking about it, you’re right. When it’s time to eat, I should just focus on the fun part, like what I want to eat.”

Me: “Exactly. Rule number one: always be happy. Everything else is just icing on the cake.”

有同学约豆瓣周日去打软蛋枪。为了这个约定他把周六安排的满满当当。下午天气有变，艳阳高照的赤道上随便一片云彩都带着雨水，乌云加细雨，成了催眠的幕布和白噪音。他睡了个意料之外的，十分舒适的下午觉……醒了就是晚饭十分，厨师今天自有安排，需要我俩坐班车自行觅食。班车上豆瓣跟我盘算哪些事情他还没完成，说来说去感觉有些心烦，于是他决定吃完饭快点回家，不去健身房也不去游泳，一门心思都在未完成的check list上。

我：不用这样吧……

豆瓣：用，最好今天都能做完，明天出去玩才能比较开心。

我：说的有道理，那现在就开始吧。

豆瓣：啊？班车上什么也做不了啊。

我：对哈，但不耽误你开心啊。这个时间是你自己的，如果因为心里惦记别的事情，就让你没办法享受当下的时间，好像有点不划算啊。

豆瓣：对呀，反正现在怎么想都没有用。去吃饭就应该开开心心想想吃什么呀。

我：嗯嗯，首先每时每刻要快乐开心，其次的都是其次