One of the first French phrases mum taught us was, “Il faut faire durer le plaisir”, which translates to, “It is necessary to make the pleasure last.”
Over the past nine decades I have, perhaps too slowly, come to learn and appreciate just how valuable that concept is. Make the pleasure of being alive last – and not just for oneself!
Perhaps the real appreciation of it comes only with time as we age. When we’re running out of time, we start to realise how precious it is – or was.
In our youth, we tend to want to make a particular pleasure last only until the start of the next one – and that one only until the start of the one after that.
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We have an omnivorous appetite for pleasure, confuse quantity and variety with quality and are not always discriminating in our choices. Quantity and frequency take precedence over quality and making the pleasure last.
‘More is better, most is best’ is often our Holy Grail – especially when we’re young.
Like many young Australian men, I spent – or wasted – much time trying to establish how much I could drink rather than valuing how enjoyable it was.
We apply the same ‘more is better, most is best’ philosophy to other things – too many other things.
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Our ever-upward spiralling standard of living is perhaps a part of the same malaise.
Even the amount of garbage we each generate is growing at an exponential rate. We now need three garbage bins instead of the one we managed with in my boyhood!
We rush, headlong, at and into our daily lives as if in a hurry to get to the end of them. Are we?
Why not try ‘making the pleasure last’?
Do Peter’s sentiments ring true for you? Has it taken a few extra decades to fully appreciate and enjoy what we have in life. Why not share your thoughts in the comments section below?
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