Every year, people labor in more work, and more responsibilities, that take us farther and farther away from the pure happiness of our youth. We get so caught up in the “work of life” that we lose touch with the “joy of living.” Could you jog your memory, and recall a time when all you had to do was to be happy? Only small children experience the “joy of living”.
My wife and I lost touch with the joy of living, and all we did was work, work, work. We loved work (better than no work). We had not taken a vacation for 22 years: with just my wife and me … without parents, children, or grandchildren.
On September 9, 2011, I had a stroke. The doctor said that I should not be working 70 hours a week, at the age of 72. (I told the doctor that I am young.) So my wife suggested that we should experience the joy of living and celebrating life rather than working all that time.
Three months following my stroke, my wife and I began our “our joy of living.” We bought a 1991 RV (with just 63K miles, which I could not resist). For the next four months, I worked on the RV, built the stock of RedOx Machines, and trained my daughter to sell the RedOx machines while I was away.
In May 2012, we filled up the RV with gasoline ($125 per full tank), put groceries in the refrigeration, and hit the road. We went to see the sites of southern Utah: Green River, Arches, Fremont Indians, Bryce Canyon, Zion, and Red Rock Canyon. We visited six parks in two weeks.
After returning from Utah, we had two weeks to rest. Then, we rushed toward Seattle, Washington for a grandson’s graduation. After our grandson’s graduation, we leisurely enjoyed Silver Falls State Park (I had never walked behind a waterfall), Crater Lake, Mount Lassen, Reno, and back home to San Jose … after another two weeks of driving.
After two weeks of resting, we took another daughter and a grandson to the Sierras, where friends were having their twentieth anniversary at Bodie State Park.
We drove Highway 108 through Sonora Pass (not recommended for RV, with 20 MPH turns on 45 degree hills), and stayed at Buckeye Campground. We walked in the forest, toured the city of Bodie (picture of sagebrush, rusting car, and falling down buildings), enjoyed two hot springs, and left on Highway 120 through Yosemite (I did not want to drive Sonora Pass again).
In 3 and ½ months, we drove over 6,000 miles. I enjoyed the 105 degree heat of the hot desert (two blown tires did not like the heat). My wife enjoyed six feet of snow at Crater Lake. We were drenched by four days of raining in the Sierras. (The Buckeye ranger had never seen four days of raining in August, for twenty years.)
We were tired. And we were smiling … all day long. We found our “joy of living.”
I wondered, after the latest “joy of living” experience. “Couldn’t I have been doing this for years before the stroke?” I had never reflected on the joy of living. I worked, spent wonderful time with family, and never looked to what else was possible. I now wondered, what would the last twenty two years look like … if we had discovered the “joy of living.” What is your “joy of living?” What makes you happy?
Consider these questions to discover and begin your personal “joy of living” plan. You will formulate more questions as you begin your quest. Walking for one mile must begin with one step.
1. Find a sport, avocation, work, product, or service (SAWPS) that you would love. Remember when you were a kid, and pure, unadulterated joy was part of most every day? We didn’t have to ask ourselves, “What makes me happy?” We just knew, and made it our mission to find those happy things. Start today, to think about of your own internal child’s happiness … occasionally. What if money was not an object, by Allen Watts (3 min Video). http://www.symbiosis4u.us/FLV/WhatIfMoneyNotObject.html
2. What time constraints will impact your SAWPS plan? Will you have to quit work? Will other people need their time to participate in your SAWPS, or will you be by yourself? Will you start your SAWPS quickly or slowly?
3. Do you have the skills for your SAWPS? Do you know someone who could help with your SAWPS? Does your SAWPS need a foreign language, voice teacher, pilot trainer, etc?
4. How much money will you need to start your SAWPS? Will you have to sell your home to start your SAWPS? Will your SAWPS run out of money? Will your SAWPS make money, or will it be working for you during your SAWPS escape times? Could you sell your SAWPS? Could your SAWPS produce residual income which could fund your SAWPS for years, even until you’re 120 years old?
5. Start yours SAWPS, within the next 2 to 6 months, even if only a one day trial. You get older every day, so don’t delay and miss out on the “joy of living”.
Finding your “joy of living” is my New Year’s gift from me to you. If your work is your love, and your joy is work, as mine has become, then you are blessed. Even when your work is fulfilling, as mine was, after manyyears, work becomes work. That’s when you must discover your personal joy of living.
