In your hands…
Finding satisfaction in life is in your hands
By: Brad Hurvitz
Posted: 5/6/10
“Time is money.” We hear it all the time here in America.
According to organizational sociologist Geert Hofstede, this linear assignment of time is a part of our low context culture, where the most common – and often considered best – way to a certain point is a straight line.
Most of us who were raised in the States will often believe that we must utilize our time to make money, and if we do not, then we are wasting our time. In no way am I knocking capitalism or claiming that it is demonic.
I am simply downplaying the “accomplishments” of the people who live to work and are motivated only by money.
When a person of this belief is on his deathbed and thinks about the life he has lived, he may reconsider what he should have done in his younger days.
This is the same realization that people who survive cancer will often arrive at, and when many of them regain their health, they have a new tenacity toward life. Why do we have to wait until we are standing on thin ice to come to this rationale?
If it is true that we may realize what some of our final thoughts will be, why don’t we just make these decisions now?
There are some memorable people I have met in my travels. While canyoning the waterfalls in Interlaken, Switzerland, I met a guy who follows the sun.
He works in Switzerland during the Northern Hemisphere’s summer, and in South Africa for the remainder of the year, again for the summer.
He makes enough money to stay afloat and possibly saves a little bit of money for when he is ready to find his next passion to follow. Or, he may find love one day and choose to settle down. Either way, it is a good decision in his eyes.
Who knows what his next step will be, but you can’t argue that he didn’t love his life and was willing to create this outcome.
Perhaps the most inspirational couple I have ever met abroad was a Canadian husband and wife in their mid 30s.
They quit their jobs in Canada, sold all of their belongings, and moved to Hong Kong to teach for a few years. Chris and Leslie were on their way back to Canada when I met them after a long day of trekking the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal.
Seven of us exhausted trekkers sat around a table in a guesthouse at 11,000 feet, discussing our treks, when I asked about their story.
Chris and Leslie calmly laughed and explained how they no longer enjoyed working in their jobs and believed they would get more satisfaction out of life by leaving Canada and starting from scratch in a foreign country.
They were collectively the happiest couple I had ever met, and perhaps the most in love. They had misplaced their wedding rings while in transition, and gifted each other with beautiful rings embedded with semi-precious gems from Nepal at a combined cost of $60 – perhaps having more value than the previous ones that cost a significantly greater amount of money.
They have since moved back to Canada, and have jobs they are satisfied with and goals to establish a school in Tibet.
Their apartment is not as large as the house they may have owned had they decided to stay in their dissatisfying jobs in Canada, but they have life experiences and memories they can share until the end of their days.
I would gladly take that instead of some extra space in the kitchen or an extra room that collects dust.
Motivation is an internal desire that we do not wrap our minds around as often as we should. What motivates you, and why does it motivate you?
These are questions that we should all ask ourselves before it’s too late. Don’t let money be your only motivation, let it allow you to attain specific aspirations.
We only have a short amount of time on this earth. One day, sooner than we think, we will be 10, 20, or 30 years older than we are now.
It will seem like yesterday that you were in college. Then you look in the mirror and realize that it was much longer than a day ago – just ask your parents how true this is.
Time is yours to mold. Your life is yours to shape. What will you be proud of when you breathe your final breath? How will you spend your time to accomplish this goal?
It is in your hands.
