Love Your Life?

Love Your Life?

          Confucius said something profound many years ago, and it is truly ageless; “Find a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.”  Really, could there possibly be anything more indubitable about the essence of life?  I find this to be especially relevant to me.  I have discovered that when I am working on something that I enjoy, the time just seems to fly and I notice a real sense of accomplishment.  I relish the time spent and actually anticipate another challenge.  I love what I am doing!

            For many people, finding a career begins when they enter college.  Choosing something just because, “These classes are so easy!” or, “Hey man, this job makes really big bucks!”, may greatly affect your life.  If you do not choose something you enjoy, will you really want to wake up every morning and seize the day?  Will you be able to look at yourself in the mirror and like what you see, will you have, “sold out”!  When reality knocks on your door, and it will, you will suddenly realize that you must go to work every day until you retire, doing a mundane job that brings no joy to your life.

            Should you be lucky enough to find something that you genuinely enjoy and make a career of that, will you really be working?  For example, major athletes paid to play the sport they love, are they really working?  You love interacting with children, you choose to be a teacher.  Will it really feel like work when a child peers into your eyes and says, “Wow, now I get it”?  Sailing and feeling the warm sun, the wind, and the salt spray, whipping your face may bring you true joy.  Would the marine biologist fighting to free that whale caught in the fishing net be a job to you?  Doing what we love!  It brings endless fascination and anticipation to every day.  If you happen to be lucky enough to be well paid for your efforts, even better, but it is certainly not necessary for happiness.

            Finding yourself working at a job for material compensation only might very well bring you a life of misery.  Money can bring you nice cars and beautiful homes, all the perks, and many will think you have it all.  But, will it truly bring you pleasure and contentment?  When it comes to a relationship, will you know they love you or, perhaps, love your money?  

Can your job choice really affect your future?  Absolutely, I believe most would say.  I’m a happy person and I love to be active.  If I got stuck with a dreary office job, that would be terrible, I might have to commit harry carey.  I want to wake up in the morning with a big ‘o smile on my face, ready for work.  I want to enjoy what I do so that I can be a good example for my family, and support them in the best possible way.  I don’t want to have to wake up one day and realize, “I should-a, could-a, would-a.”  I just wanna hear the birds sing, see the sun shining down, and smell the flowers on the warm scented air.  What-a life!         

Up & At 'Em

Up & At 'Em

The wise Aristotle, born in the year 384BC, said, “It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom.”  Benjamin Franklin, in 1735, later paraphrased by saying, “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”  I grew up hearing this age-old saying, from both my mom and my dad.  For as long as I can remember, they always told me that it was important that I go to bed early so that my brain could get the rest it needed.  When I went to bed early, I also had to get up early so that I could prepare for the day with a clear head.  Of course, when I got up early, I had plenty of time for exercise sometime during my day, no excuses there!  As for the “wealthy” part, well, I haven’t quite reached that point yet, but it’s a little early for that.  I think the fact that I awake with a positive attitude, ready to challenge the day, can certainly improve my chances of achieving a fair income one day.                                        

           This saying was especially important in early mid-America when farming was the main occupation.  Farmers had livestock to feed and cows to milk.  There were crops to plant and it was cooler in the morning to get their work completed.  The farmers needed their wives and families up early too so that they could prepare breakfast and help with chores.  Everyone in the house was up, ready for the day.  Rising early reduced their exposure to the sun, helping them to be healthier.  They were able to get more work done, making them wealthier, and this promoted a happier home, making them very wise, indeed!  It had the added bonus of bringing the family together, forming a strong bond that stabilized all its members and contributed to a vigorous society.  We may not still be an agrarian society, but we have certainly benefited from our past, Americans’ are an uncompromising, independent lot that thrive, even in adversity.

The wealthy part must come into play with “the early bird gets the worm.”  All you have to do is look at the New York Stock Exchange to see that Wall Street is busy early in the morning, with the stock market opening at 6:30am in California.  Since the majority of the worlds’ wealthiest people trade stocks, they must rise early.  Just look at many of our founding families, the Rockefellers’, the Gettys’, the Vanderbuilts’, the Kennedys’, etc, all families that valued long hours and hard work, beginning at “the crack of dawn!”

Perhaps ‘ole Aristotle knew a thing or two after all.  If not, why would Benjamin Franklin have reiterated nearly this very same thought, hundreds of years later?  And, here we are again, hundreds of years after Mr. Franklin, still reciting that same proverb.  It is, most certainly, because it is so true, even after all these years.  The animal world knows it, you won’t see them sleeping after the sun has come up, which certainly helps to keep them from being eaten by another animal who didn’t sleep late.  When you actually stop and think about it, we humans are basically very smart animals; so really, we should just do what comes naturally and we would all be the better for it!  

I must admit that it was my parents that made me go to bed early when I was young.  They were also responsible for getting me up with my chickens, yes, I have chickens, to begin my day, and sometimes I grumbled a bit.  However, now that I am older, it is my choice whether or not I want to go to bed and wake up early, and, I do.  I have come to realize that I love waking with the sunrise, and even earlier than that in the winter.  The air is fresh and cool and has that moist, grassy smell I love.  The birds are singing their beautiful songs and I find that this refreshes my soul.  It makes me bright eyed and bushy tailed, I feel terrific and ready to tackle whatever the day may possess!