On my way home from Boy Scout camp twenty years ago, my father and I hit some traffic, so we started chatting about life. He taught me two lessons then that I have used most of my life, but have giving a lot of thought to lately. The second lesson was when passing cars always look at their front left tire just to make sure they aren't about to come into your lane. Pretty useful lesson.
The first lesson was to do anything that you have to do to survive. This came about while talking about not being killed during a genocide, but can be used in day to day living. For the past ten years, like many of you, I have done jobs to pay the bills, pay the rent/mortgage, date money, and a little savings. I haven't yet had a job that I loved.
If you've read below, you know that I will be moving to Colorado in December to pursue a dream of living in that state. I took a job that's pretty simple, but pays okay, has benefits, and housing so it's a good start. It also comes with a free season pass to Aspen and some other mountains, so that's a great benefit. Once the winter is over, I will be looking for a new job. Actually, I will be looking for a new job all winter, but hopefully starting it after winter's over. Anyway, I hope to be happier and emotionally more successful in my new state and mind.
Several of my friends have also decided to pursue their dreams. One made his dream into his job. The other has been in a very successful career for ten years and is now adding to his career a side job just for the enjoyment of it.
In 2005, Matt was a recent UMass graduate who joined the corporate world. Like most people, he hated the corporate world so he decided to save up some money, quit his job, and travel the world for a year. He came back a year and a half later. Once back he completed his MBA (all his friends know this since he signs his emails with MBA after his name), and got back on a plane. He's used his business knowledge to travel the world, write a successful and profitable blog, and make his dream into his job. He seems pretty happy to me. Check out his website at http://www.nomadicmatt.com/.
My other friend, Ben, has been a very successful day trader in New York Ciry since 2001. He recently purchased a nice one bedroom on the upper west side, got married to a beautiful, super smart (she married him), and cultured woman, and is (ahem....hope I'm not the first to reveal this) expecting his first child in a few months. Since I first met him many years ago at UMass (http://www.umass.edu/) he has been extremely fit. For a short period after I graduated, I lived with his family while I was looking for a place of my own. Each day he would do 100 crunches and then go jogging for an hour. He also built his own bike path in the woods near his house. About a year ago, he took classes on the side to be a professional trainer and has passed his exam. Although he is still trading stocks, he's now also a personal trainer who does his workouts in Central Park. Check out his sight at http://www.barefootbenny.com/
Like these two, I will be soon embarking on my own adventure. Hopefully it will bring me as much happiness as their dreams have. A lesson I've learned on my own is that you really have to love what you do, otherwise the days will drag on and before you know it, you'll be too old to care about the dreams.
What lessons have you learned? What dreams have you followed?
No comments:
Post a Comment