“No one sits there in their old age wishing they answered one more email”
I tweeted earlier today (@BigJoeRambler) that I would’ve been sitting in a cube working way too hard to try and deny workers’ compensation claims for some giant company that took way too much pride in doing so, but rather I was on the road driving from Omaha to Denver and loving every minute of it. I am on my way to spring training. I’ve discussed it before so I won’t beat a dead horse, but there is so much more to life and, I feel, we too often just don’t take the time to enjoy. In fact, it almost seems taboo to step out of the norm and follow a dream, or stop to enjoy life or just say screw it, I don’t want to play.
I stopped in Nebraska yesterday on the first leg of my trip and went out to dinner with a friend and some of his colleagues. They were all very interested in my story of how I quit my job and just decided to do what makes me happy, the whole idea was seemingly foreign to them. My friend even joked a couple of times that I was a bum for pursuing the lifestyle that I am. We laughed and I tried, as passionately and understandingly as I could, to explain to them that we all have a limited amount of time on this Earth. I tried to explain that I could die tomorrow, or that I may never get the chance to retire, or that I could be in too poor of health to take this kind of trip if I ever do retire so why not do it now? I don’t know that my explanation helped.
The bigger thing that struck me as I was on the road thinking about that conversation is that it is depressing that we have devolved to the point where if you decide that being a slave to your job is not for you, you’re a bum. Think about if for a second. Someone that works all the time, I mean at the office early, home late, on the phone answering emails, taking calls at all hours is considered successful. People look at a person like that and think to themselves that he must really have it together and be successful if he is so busy. How did that become the measure of success? When did ignoring family, friends, hobbies, interests in the name of work become the bar for which we judge success?
It’s not a question I can answer, but I know I have been judged and will be judged more. It doesn’t really bother me, but it should bother them. I know that no one sits there in their old age, when they are too weak to travel or experience much more, wishing they took one more call, answered one more email, ignored a friend or family member to accept one more meeting request. That is the truth.
Anyways, lots of time to think on the road these last two days going from Chicago to Omaha to Denver. Got to meet the Governor of Nebraska, had some incredibly beautiful weather, enjoyed some cigars, slept like a baby in the back of the van on the first night. Off to Albuquerque tomorrow.
