Day 11

Day 11...

From Illusions: The simplest questions are the most profound: Where were you born? Where is your home? Where are you going? What are you doing? Think about these once in a while, and watch your answers change.

We've talked about the first three questions above the past few days. Have you seen how your answers are different now than they might've been five years ago? Twenty years ago? 


The last question might be the one that changes the most. "What are you doing?" Sometimes the answer is "heck if I know!" And how strange that it can actually be true.

I'm a pretty spontaneous person. I don't make long range plans, don/t like "to do" lists at all. I like being able to say yes when someone calls with last minute events, without having to plan around other things. "What are you doing?" is a pretty easy "nothing" for me most of the time.

Life isn't always easy to arrange so you are doing "nothing." As a child, you have nothing but free time. Filling it up with play is easy to do. Then as a teenager, you become interested in sports, the opposite sex, school activities, it gets more difficult. By the time college rolls around, your day is pretty well planned. Then there's usually marriage and kids, and there went any hope of free time for the next 20 years. An empty nest is something many people can't wait to have.

Sometimes you kick the little birds out and they come back. Then you find yourself as a grandparent, helping them with daycare needs, running errands while they work, and the cycle has repeated itself. I have a retired friend that says she doesn't know how she worked and had hobbies, much less if she'd had kids. Now she finally has time for herself, and wonders how everything got done before she retired. Fairies, I bet. I'm still waiting on mine.

Right now, I'm watching football. Typing this blog post. Listening to the rain. Wondering if the dogs can possibly wait til after the rain to go out. Hoping my hair dries before I go to be, else I look a bag lady tomorrow. What I'm "doing" is pretty uneventful. Exactly how I like it. Unless you hear about me on the evening news, it was a good weekend.

What you "do" for a living hopefully something you love. The best job in the world might not pay much, but if it's something you love, it's awesome. I'd probably own a small restaurant where I could cook for just a few dozen people each night, taking time to serve them something I cooked with love. That'd be my perfect job. Probably wouldn't make a lot of money, but I'd really be happy making them happy.

Lesson Eleven: Are you doing what you want to be right now? Or are you slaving away, chasing the almighty dollar? Even if you catch it, will you have time to do what you want with it? If you slow down, take life a little easier, love a little harder, work a little smarter, don't stress over things, will that make your life better? Will you and those you love do things together? Isn't making memories better than making money?

719 to go...