I recently was thinking about an older woman that I worked with.  Truthfully she was probably about Jennifer Lopez’s current age but she looked like at least 20 years older.  We used to refer to her as the old lady.   She worked all the time, even when she was on vacation.  This was mostly out of insecurity and a need to control but as someone who sometimes had to cover for her, it created so much unneeded stress.  For instance, there would be meetings and events that I had no idea about and if something needed to move, she would still insist on doing it from her cruise ship vacation where she would lose internet most of the time.  

I once heard her talking about how she would be able to really enjoy her life once she retired.  I wonder how that is working out for her now?  People often forget that when you “retire” you are older and well I know there can sometimes be more physical limitations than when we are young.  And then how does any of us know what time there is left?

I wonder how that is working out for her now.   But then I find myself doing the same thing.  That is the problem if one is not living a life that they truly love.  Mark Bittner was really big on having the right livelihood.  So much so that he basically lived on the streets for most of his life.  While I can see how detrimental it can be to be doing work that you truly don’t love, that lifestyle is not an option for me.

Mark did eventually find his right livelihood as a writer after many decades.  I must admit that I read the book after writing this article and I was blown away by its simplicity and how it worked.  Finding nature where you are is how it all started for him.  Then finding his true self, whatever you want to call it, through the connection with the birds.

The key is to start where you are.  And even feelings of uneasiness and unhappiness are ok as long as you let them lead you to actions to where you want to be.