We Were Meant to Experience Life, Not Just “Get Through” It
- Jo Moore
- 12 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Somewhere along the way, many of us quietly began treating life like a long list of things to survive. Get through the week. Get through the workload. Get through winter. Get through the difficult conversation. Get through the bills, the errands, the emails, the exhaustion.
And in the middle of all this “getting through", something essential can slowly go numb within us.
Wonder. Playfulness. Curiosity. Enchantment.
We become so focused on being productive, responsible, and realistic that we forget life is not merely a problem to solve. It is also something to experience.
The warmth of sunlight through trees. The smell of rain on dry earth. Music that rearranges your mood. Laughter that leaves your stomach aching. Walking somewhere with no destination at all.
These moments may seem small, yet they are often where life quietly becomes meaningful again.
“Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” — Mary Oliver
The Culture of Constant Productivity
Modern life rewards efficiency almost everywhere we turn. We are encouraged to optimise our mornings, monetise our hobbies, track our steps, improve ourselves endlessly, and measure our worth by output. Rest is often treated as something we must earn rather than something deeply human.
Research from American Psychological Association has repeatedly shown that chronic stress and overwork can significantly affect emotional wellbeing, cognitive function, and physical health. Their research on stress in modern life highlights how many people feel trapped in a near-constant state of pressure and mental overload.
When we live in continual survival mode, the nervous system prioritises efficiency and protection over creativity, joy, and exploration. In many ways, this is biological: the brain becomes focused on managing demands rather than noticing beauty.
And yet beauty is not frivolous. Play is not childish. Wonder is not a waste of time. They are part of what keeps us emotionally alive.
Why Playfulness Matters More Than We Think
Many adults unconsciously abandon play because they associate it with immaturity or unproductiveness. But researchers increasingly recognise play as essential for psychological health, emotional resilience, creativity, and social connection - not only in children, but in adults too.
Dr. Stuart Brown, founder of the National Institute for Play, spent decades researching the role of play in human wellbeing. His work suggests that playfulness supports adaptability, emotional regulation, problem-solving, and even deeper relationships.
Play does not always mean games or silliness.
It can look like:
dancing in the kitchen
swimming in cold rivers
painting badly but joyfully
cloud watching
wandering through forests
laughing without checking the time
trying something new simply because it fascinates you
Play reconnects us with presence. And presence is often where healing begins.
The Importance of Awe and Enchantment
Psychologists have also studied the impact of awe - those moments when we encounter something vast, beautiful, or meaningful that shifts our perspective beyond ourselves.
Studies from researchers at University of California, Berkeley found that experiences of awe are associated with increased wellbeing, reduced stress, greater generosity, and a stronger sense of connection with others.
Awe can emerge in surprisingly ordinary places:
hearing birdsong at dawn
standing beneath stars
listening to waves
walking through ancient woodland
witnessing kindness
hearing a piece of music at exactly the right moment
Enchantment does not require a perfect life. It requires attention. Children understand this instinctively. They can spend ten minutes fascinated by a beetle crossing a path or by sunlight reflecting on water.
Somewhere along adulthood, many of us stop noticing. Or perhaps more truthfully: we stop allowing ourselves the time to notice.
Nature Reminds Us How to Feel Alive Again
One of the reasons time in nature feels so restorative is because it interrupts the relentless productivity mindset. Trees are not rushing. Clouds are not multitasking. Birdsong exists without needing justification.
Research published in journals such as Scientific Reports has shown that spending as little as two hours a week in nature is strongly associated with improved health and wellbeing outcomes.
Nature gently returns us to sensory experience:
the smell of pine after rain
wind against skin
the rhythm of footsteps
the changing light between branches
These experiences regulate the nervous system not because they are “productive", but because they reconnect us with being alive.
We Do Not Need to Earn Joy
Perhaps one of the saddest beliefs many adults carry is the idea that joy must wait until everything is finished. Once the work settles down. Once the house is sorted. Once the future feels secure. Once we become “better.”
But life is not a task list that suddenly grants permission to live at the end of it. There will always be another responsibility waiting. The invitation is not to abandon responsibility, but to stop postponing aliveness indefinitely.
“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you…” — Roald Dahl
Gentle Ways to Reawaken Wonder
You do not need to transform your entire life overnight. Often wonder returns in very small ways.
You might:
walk without headphones occasionally
watch the sunrise once this week
visit somewhere beautiful slowly
buy flowers for no reason
lie beneath trees
dance to one song in your kitchen
take photographs of ordinary beauty
do something badly but joyfully
spend time with people who make you laugh freely
None of these things are unproductive. They are part of remembering that you are human, not merely functional.
Final Thoughts On How to Experience Life and Not Just Get Through It
Somewhere along the way, many of us learned to value usefulness more than aliveness. But a meaningful life is not built solely from efficiency, responsibility, or endurance. It is also built from moments of wonder. From playfulness. From awe. From connection. From feeling fully awake inside our own existence.
We were always meant to experience life and not just get through it.
We're meant to taste it.
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