Conceptual
This section of the website is devoted to my hobbies and ideas. I call it conceptual because most things here are in a constant state of exploration and development. Some may never get beyond the idea stage, others have been successful and consume hours and hours. All of them are adventures on their own.
A man practices the art of adventure when he breaks the chain of routine and renews his life through reading new books, traveling to new places, making new friends, taking up new hobbies and adopting new viewpoints. ~ Wilfred Peterson American writer, best known for 'The Art of Living', 1900-1995
Make A Change
Change. We all have it within us to change. To remake ourselves. To become something different than what we are today. We have it within us to change, but it is a choice that we must make. To wait for change is to live a life of reaction, and as the famous chinese curse goes "May you live in interesting times", most of us have been lucky enough to not live in interesting times.
Why change? Why grow? Why dream? These are questions you never have to ask yourself when you never say - "It can't be done."
For most of my life I have, on some level challenged everything. It's not that I was rebelious or tempermental... in fact, most who know me would say I typically take on a Zen like attitude to things. It's that I challenge things because until I can prove to myself that something can't be done, I refuse to accept that there isn't a way - a better way - to do it.
Needless to say, I've spent a great deal of my life allowing my forehead to be aquainted with brick walls.
Occassionally though, I find a loose brick which becomes a hole to the other side of the secret garden.
Avoiding the rut
Often, I have found myself looking back on my life. What I see is that life tends to be full of a series of stable bits, broken by significant change. Work the same job for 3 years and then change jobs, or even careers. Your life changes... and not just at work, but your social life and time you devote to things changes as well. Move cities, and once close friends - though they may remain close emotionally - no longer engage with you in the same way. New activites and interests supplant old ones, and each time the change happens you grow as a person.
It's hard to go through that sort of abrupt change though, which is why most of us avoid it. I do too. Or at least I would, if wasn't in the habit of almost pre-programming change into my life. Setting things in motion so that there is no way to avoid it when the time comes.
I also try and look for opportunities to change, not just when things are going bad, but when they are going well. Always safer to take on some new project or part of your life when you have a good part to fall back on. It's just hard to find the motivation to do so when things are going well.
Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it. ~ Lou Holtz American Football coach, 1937-1980
I don't think I ever want to retire. Not fully at least. Sitting around on a beach at the age of 32 hasn't interested me, and it's going to interest me even less when I'm 92. Keeping involved, never slowing down, and staying mentally and physically active is the way I'd like to go.
