Even If We Knew Which Way to Head, But Still We Probably Wouldn’t Go
***Warning*** This post is fairly self-serving, and was pretty much written to help me formulate my own thoughts so I can concentrate on obtaining the personal goals that I have set for myself. An attempt to inspire and motivate me to keep moving forward on the path I’m on, so to speak. Feel free to peruse and take from it what you will. Or you can just skip it and check back next week when I should have some more scenic hiking pictures to share. Your choice.
What can I say? Life is on an upswing for me right now. Just about three months into the new job and things are still going well. We are a week or so away from the start of my favorite season, and I have been trying to take full advantage of the beautiful weather we’ve had lately leading up to that point. The family is doing well, and I really have no complaints. It’s kinda funny because I was reading back through some of my older posts and it’s hard to believe that I ever let myself get so miserable. All it took was a few tweaks in my life (another job, shorter commute, etc) to drastically change my overall outlook. I know these things come in waves and that today’s peak is tomorrow’s ebb, but I am trying to do more to “tweak” how I’m living my life so those ebbs never become as deep nor last so long.
I know that sounds incredibly corny, like I’m some kind of late-night Tony Robbins infomercial guy (You, too, can lead a happy life! Just buy my book…), but I truly believe that for the most part we are masters of our own destiny. We can create our own happiness. It’s not easy, and it takes a lot of work, but I think it can be done. I know what I want and I am now trying to pursue those goals by taking the necessary steps to realize them.
I think that the hardest part of dream realization is the transition time. I have to invest the time, effort, blood, sweat, tears, etc, to get there. Nothing comes quickly, and we have to work hard to get to where we need to be. I can’t just say that I want something and expect it to be given to me. But how does one successfully maintain his/her current life and status while trying to achieve his/her desired life and status? Having to straddle each reality is difficult, and the more you try to reach out and invest in your desires, the wider your straddle becomes, making it more difficult to maintain. One has to gain flexibility to be able to make that stretch. My favorite excuse for putting off doing the steps to get to where I need to be is that I “don’t have any time.” But I had time. I just didn’t want to adjust my already full and rigid schedule to make room for that time. It wasn’t the task that was the problem. The problem was me and my inflexibility to change even when the end result was to my own benefit. I didn’t want to put in the investment towards a long-term reward when I was already comfortable living in the short-term, despite the knowledge that I would be much happier if the long-term payoff would ever come true.
I have known that I was my own worst enemy for a long time, but only until recently have I started to do things about it. I needed to change my paradigms and become flexible enough to make room for the tasks in which I wanted to accomplish. For example, I am one of those people who need to work out for many mental and physical reasons. I am not one of those naturally fit and trim people. I’m ok now, but if I don’t stay active, my body will put on weight and get all kinds of flabby in a hurry. But trying to squeeze in a workout 2-3 times a week when a lot of times my weekdays don’t end until 9:00 or so due to work, kids, etc, can get pretty tough, especially when one is looking to use those few precious hours that he/she has alone with his/her significant other to pencil it in. Plus, after all of that running around all day I often feel too worn out to all of a sudden get all active. So what did I do? I decided to get up an hour earlier a couple days a week and exercise then. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I am definitely NOT a morning person. So, deciding to not only get up at 5:00am but to sacrifice an hour of precious sleep on my own volition is a huge deal for me. I’ve been doing it for a couple of months now, and so far I’ve stuck with it. I’m not going to lie to you. It’s really hard for me to get out of bed that early especially when contemplating that ever-attractive snooze alarm vs. getting up first thing in the morning and physically exerting myself. However, that little bit of sacrifice has really paid off for me. Plus, in the long run what will mean more to me? Getting that extra hour of sleep or my physical and mental well-being?
I’ve also made a goal to get out and do a lot more hiking this summer. I love the mountains and I love to hike. However, that, too, involves getting up at an ungodly hour to do it (and on the weekend, nonetheless). Did I really want to forgo my sleep-in Saturday to get up at the crack of dawn? As much as I hated to do it, I did and the payoff was well worth it (see previous post). The old John would have argued that Saturday was “my day” and that I had earned the right to sleep in after a long week of work. But why was I working? So I could afford the life I wanted to lead. As I said, I love the mountains and I love to hike. If I wasn’t doing it so I could grab a couple hours of more sleep, was I really living the life I wanted to lead? Years from now I will remember that hike and how awesome it was. I can honestly say that I’m not thinking back to myself saying, “Remember that Saturday I slept in back in ’96? Boy, that was that the defining moment of my life.”
But both of those cases are just smaller scale examples of the philosophy I have now decided to apply to my entire life. We only get one spin on this merry-go-round, and I want to make my ride worth it and know that I spent my time well. I’ve had time all-the-while. I just wasn’t spending it wisely. The hard part will be trying to make this philosophy stick. I can feel the straddle getting wider. I just need to keep myself flexible and looking ahead to the time when I can finally step-off and stand firmly in the place where I want to be. I control my destiny and I can make it happen. Where I am at is pretty good, but I can do better. Here’s to working towards that goal.
What can I say? Life is on an upswing for me right now. Just about three months into the new job and things are still going well. We are a week or so away from the start of my favorite season, and I have been trying to take full advantage of the beautiful weather we’ve had lately leading up to that point. The family is doing well, and I really have no complaints. It’s kinda funny because I was reading back through some of my older posts and it’s hard to believe that I ever let myself get so miserable. All it took was a few tweaks in my life (another job, shorter commute, etc) to drastically change my overall outlook. I know these things come in waves and that today’s peak is tomorrow’s ebb, but I am trying to do more to “tweak” how I’m living my life so those ebbs never become as deep nor last so long.
I know that sounds incredibly corny, like I’m some kind of late-night Tony Robbins infomercial guy (You, too, can lead a happy life! Just buy my book…), but I truly believe that for the most part we are masters of our own destiny. We can create our own happiness. It’s not easy, and it takes a lot of work, but I think it can be done. I know what I want and I am now trying to pursue those goals by taking the necessary steps to realize them.
I think that the hardest part of dream realization is the transition time. I have to invest the time, effort, blood, sweat, tears, etc, to get there. Nothing comes quickly, and we have to work hard to get to where we need to be. I can’t just say that I want something and expect it to be given to me. But how does one successfully maintain his/her current life and status while trying to achieve his/her desired life and status? Having to straddle each reality is difficult, and the more you try to reach out and invest in your desires, the wider your straddle becomes, making it more difficult to maintain. One has to gain flexibility to be able to make that stretch. My favorite excuse for putting off doing the steps to get to where I need to be is that I “don’t have any time.” But I had time. I just didn’t want to adjust my already full and rigid schedule to make room for that time. It wasn’t the task that was the problem. The problem was me and my inflexibility to change even when the end result was to my own benefit. I didn’t want to put in the investment towards a long-term reward when I was already comfortable living in the short-term, despite the knowledge that I would be much happier if the long-term payoff would ever come true.
I have known that I was my own worst enemy for a long time, but only until recently have I started to do things about it. I needed to change my paradigms and become flexible enough to make room for the tasks in which I wanted to accomplish. For example, I am one of those people who need to work out for many mental and physical reasons. I am not one of those naturally fit and trim people. I’m ok now, but if I don’t stay active, my body will put on weight and get all kinds of flabby in a hurry. But trying to squeeze in a workout 2-3 times a week when a lot of times my weekdays don’t end until 9:00 or so due to work, kids, etc, can get pretty tough, especially when one is looking to use those few precious hours that he/she has alone with his/her significant other to pencil it in. Plus, after all of that running around all day I often feel too worn out to all of a sudden get all active. So what did I do? I decided to get up an hour earlier a couple days a week and exercise then. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I am definitely NOT a morning person. So, deciding to not only get up at 5:00am but to sacrifice an hour of precious sleep on my own volition is a huge deal for me. I’ve been doing it for a couple of months now, and so far I’ve stuck with it. I’m not going to lie to you. It’s really hard for me to get out of bed that early especially when contemplating that ever-attractive snooze alarm vs. getting up first thing in the morning and physically exerting myself. However, that little bit of sacrifice has really paid off for me. Plus, in the long run what will mean more to me? Getting that extra hour of sleep or my physical and mental well-being?
I’ve also made a goal to get out and do a lot more hiking this summer. I love the mountains and I love to hike. However, that, too, involves getting up at an ungodly hour to do it (and on the weekend, nonetheless). Did I really want to forgo my sleep-in Saturday to get up at the crack of dawn? As much as I hated to do it, I did and the payoff was well worth it (see previous post). The old John would have argued that Saturday was “my day” and that I had earned the right to sleep in after a long week of work. But why was I working? So I could afford the life I wanted to lead. As I said, I love the mountains and I love to hike. If I wasn’t doing it so I could grab a couple hours of more sleep, was I really living the life I wanted to lead? Years from now I will remember that hike and how awesome it was. I can honestly say that I’m not thinking back to myself saying, “Remember that Saturday I slept in back in ’96? Boy, that was that the defining moment of my life.”
But both of those cases are just smaller scale examples of the philosophy I have now decided to apply to my entire life. We only get one spin on this merry-go-round, and I want to make my ride worth it and know that I spent my time well. I’ve had time all-the-while. I just wasn’t spending it wisely. The hard part will be trying to make this philosophy stick. I can feel the straddle getting wider. I just need to keep myself flexible and looking ahead to the time when I can finally step-off and stand firmly in the place where I want to be. I control my destiny and I can make it happen. Where I am at is pretty good, but I can do better. Here’s to working towards that goal.
posted by john at 1:51 PM
3 Comments:
Nice post. Now if only you can break it down into ten steps for me, I'll buy it.
Really, I feel you on this one. I'm using different words and metaphors, and my life is completely geared toward work right now. But its sort of a take life by the balls approach that I'm growing to like.
Thanks, LSD. I'm trying to live more engaged in life right now, and the payoff has definitely been worth it. It's not just the hiking that I mentioned in the post, but a lot of other things that I would like to accomplish and do that if I would put in half of the effort I spend making up excuses not to do them, then I would already have them done by now. I don't know if that makes any sense, but I know where I want to be but up until now I haven't taken the steps to get there. They will be small steps for now, but any movement forward is better than no movement at all. To me there is nothing worse than stagnation. And even though I have made a lot of good positive changes in my life lately, I know I can do better. It's not that I'm currently disappointed, in fact, quite the opposite. It is knowing how good things are from just a few small changes, and thinking about what would happen if I dedicated the time to make a few more. If life is what we make it then I'm getting ready to put my chef's hat on...
Nice Modest Mouse reference!
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