The Final Countdown

This title makes me chuckle. I love the TV show Arrested Development when GOB does his magic shows . . . Will Arnett? Arrested Development? Bueller? Anyone?*Cough* Anyway . . .

I was checking Facebook status messages today and noticed all of the countdowns going on:
"3 weeks until our vacation!"
"5 days until the big interview!"
"2 months until the big shopping trip!"
"4 hours until my blind date!"

I've even seen blogs and websites where people will count down to the births of their children, vacations, birthdays, holidays, pretty much any event that you may mark on your calendar.

We spend so much of our time counting down to significant events, marking the passage of time with this stuff. And I'm not just pointing fingers--when I was a high school English teacher, I was just as guilty as anyone else. I was constantly stressed and always counting down to something less stressful, except my list of countdowns was much.more.depressing. My mental countdowns were something like this:
"17 more weeks of school!"
"3 weeks until spring break!"
"2 days until Saturday!"
"4 hours until the end of the day!"
"20 minutes until the end of this class period!"

It was sad. So so sad. Especially by my third year of teaching, I became cognizant of these countdowns. Living in the present was becoming pretty unbearable, and I cheered myself up with the thought that the present would soon be over. But that is no way to live mon amie.

There's something to be said for counting down to a hugely exciting event like getting married, becoming a parent, a homeowner, etc. But what's more important is the thought process behind it--is the countdown from excitement? Or a form of escapism to a happy moment, rescuing you from the present?

I'm happy to report that currently I am not counting down to anything . . . but only time will tell if this is a successful effort to live in the present or if there's just not anything too spectacular going on right now. You have the right to put me in check if I put up a Facebook status regarding timelines! Or even worse, if I install a countdown clicker on my blog declaring "2 days until my couch arrives" and other such silliness. Please, call me out.