Trader Sam (6/6/2008)
It is funny how that sometimes it takes a crisis such as a severe illness, or death of a loved one to get us to take notice our of lives, and perhaps our mortality.My life philosophy is that this is not a dress rehearsal for life...I don't get to go back and do everything right 'next time'. There is no next time...this is it. Don't be one of those people who at 65 years of age says, 'gee, I wish I had [fill in the blank] 20 years ago', or whenever.
You can never regain the time that has passed. You can not go back and enjoy your childrens youth once they are grown. Too late then. And we never know when our own 'end' will be, but it will probably be before we did all the things we really wanted to do.
Enjoy life now, everyday!
Well said. I had my scare a few years back, and I've been slowly but surely been making changes to get there.
Never mind that we've all heard these words before, perhaps it's time to actually take them to heart. Our jobs can and often are intoxicating, stressful, crazy, and....addictive. We all get hooked on that crazy pace, and being able to fly in, fix the world a little in twenty keystrokes and fly out to tilt at the next windmill. I will be the first to admit - I'm right up there with work junkies, because I get a charge out of what I do. But it's no excuse to short-change everyone around you; providing for them is wonderful, but that includes providing some of yourself to them (possibly what they want most.)
So - set limits for yourself, and stick to them. Take time away, leave the laptop at home, and just do. Anything. Just enjoy the time - you ain't getting it back (if you ARE - let me know how, we need to talk!)
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Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part...unless you're my manager...or a director and above...or a really loud-spoken end-user..All right - what was my emergency again?