Oh what a terrible fate that would be.
With love,
Russ
When it comes time to die,
let us not discover that we have never lived.
~ Henry David Thoreau ~
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Heart Whispers
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russtowne
Poets Corner
Russ Towne's A Grateful Man 
such a good reminder –
Yup!
Hell yeah
Hell is what I picture being existing without really living to be like.
Russ
Smart man, that Thoreau
Indeed! Somebody ought to quote him some day! ;-D!
Russ
I have been puzzling the death question again lately after losing a close friend – and I have a renewed thirst to make my life count, to LIVE. And live WELL. I puzzle about what that really looks like, every day. I puzzle about the kinds of decisions that would create balance – I so often lose the work-live contest and the balance tips too far in favor of ‘work’. When you solve that one, let me know, will you? 🙂
Hi, Melody. It’s good to hear from you. Actually, my friend, I believe I have. It took me nearly forty years to figure out how to do it (I’m a slow learner) but I finally found the recipe that works for me. It took time and multiple steps, and the transition had setbacks along the way, but the changes I made have made a huge difference in the quality of my life and the amount of joy in it.
I got out of a profession I’d been in decades and had come to hate, and found something I love to do so much that I did it for free for friends and family before they convinced me I should make a profession out of it. I now professionally manage investments and wealth of many of the people I care deeply deeply care about and love doing it. In that way, “work” is play.
I also found I love to write. I finished my first book less than four years ago and have since written nearly thirty more. I enjoy the writing, reader compliments and support, and the royalties I receive for my efforts. It’s another form of “work” that feels much more like play to me most of the time.
My professions make for a very flexible schedule. I can also perform them from almost anywhere. When family or friends need or want to be with me, I can focus on them. In that way I can be maximally available to my family and friends when it is convenient for them. They get all the time they want with me, and I with them. There is rarely any work/play tension because I get to play all the time, doing what I love, with the people I love.
With Love,
Russ
Hmmm. Those words come at what may be a pivotal time for me career wise. I am no longer enjoying my job… I have been wondering about making a change but the pay and benefits are excellent, and it is what I know how to do. I would like to have time for writing projects but with 2 children in university I can’t afford to take such a monstrous chance. Sigh. The tension is surely there. Life is too precious and too short to live dreading Monday. Double sigh.
I’ve been there. Not fun. I had two children and a wife all going through university. It can make one feel as though they are trapped.
When feeling unhappy with my work situation, I found that sometimes if I could just change a part of the equation it would help until I could change more of it. At times adding a fun new work project kept me going. Or changing jobs in the same company that still used many of my strengths and skills but opened up more opportunities for fun and/or growth. Changing bosses. Or going to a new company with good pay and benefits. Taking a lateral position, or one with a greater focus on the parts of the job I most enjoyed (or that didn’t involve the aspects I most disliked). Adding new skills that would eventually help me to find a more interesting position inside or outside the company. Getting so proficient at a hobby that I could begin to turn it into a profession. Gradually living more frugally to give myself more options as to the type of professions I could do and still keep my family fed with a roof over their heads. At one time or another I’ve done all those things. Many of them were downright challenging at the time.
Some worked out and some didn’t. I don’t envy you your choices, but whatever you decide may it lead to greater joy for you Melody.
Russ