The Saturday Morning Post: Finding Joy

Back in the Go-Go 1980's I participated in a lot of training in sales, marketing, and business development.  The motto of one the trainers was, "You Must Do The Most Important Thing Possible At Every Given Moment." Then if you listened to the rest of the statement, he would say, "and at times the most important thing possible is relaxing on the beach with a tropical drink." His point was be productive during work time, but balance that with down time, family time, me time, time with no agenda. Time to recharge.  

All to often our time away from work is filled with must do's. And yes the laundry must be done, but if you put it off for a few days you are unlikely to go naked and unwashed.  *** 

It is easy for work to take over our lives.  I have let mission creep take over my life a few times in my life.  Part of the reason leaving Florida and starting over back in 1995 was so easy for me, was my work was consuming every waking moment. A major factor in my seeking the job in DC, was that I was working everyday, even taking the laptop on vacation, most of the Kentucky legal service capacity assessment was written at my parents house in Florida over Thanksgiving week, when I should have been sitting in the sand listening to the waves and the birds.  

My grandfather used to say, "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."  He worked a lot, but also had a lot of me time to play pool, hunt, fish, play cards, or just nap in his chair.  

I worry, that my work is taking over too much of my life.  I succeed at taking most weekends off, but I wake up thinking about work, occasionally I lose sleep over work. I will admit it here, that it is not as much fun as it once was.  I need to change that.  Either find the fun, or move on.  I will be able to retire sometime this coming year.  I have some mixed feelings about it.  I am making a good living, but I am not finding the joy in what I am doing as often as I have in the past.

The most important thing possible, is something that brings me joy, something I find value in. That may be nothing, or it may be new opportunities.    

Maybe I am approaching time to start the next chapter in life, a chapter sure to be filled with joy. 

*** This post did not go where I expected it to go.  I started out to talk about the importance of making time with no agenda, and ended up talking about my state of burn out.  Probably another symptom of my burn out.