When I think about life, I keep coming back to the theme of how we spend our time.
If you’re working, you spend about 25% of your time at work, 33% sleeping and the remaining 42% of your time doing things for yourself and your family.
From experience, I know that while no one has the perfect job, you need to at least be ok with your work. We spend far too much time there to keep working a miserable job. I tend to go through three phases at any job. First, I have a honeymoon period where I tend to over-love my job. Then, I have kind of a “normal” period where I’m neutral about my job. The third phase is when I find the job has become completely miserable and I wake up dreading going in. The secret for me to being satisfied at work is to move as soon as I enter phase three (or before it).
My current job skipped the honeymoon period. I entered my present job in phase two so I’m hoping I’ve either matured or that I can stay content there longer because the rest of my life is pretty good. I love living in Kerry and I have an amazing girlfriend and a goofy dog to spend my free time with.
Something I’ve been trying to do in a sort of casual way is to divest myself of junk. I used to be a hoarder and would buy crap and keep it indefinitely. My house was full of useless stuff that I didn’t need and didn’t enjoy. So, the past couple of years, I’ve been trying hard to only buy things I need or REALLY want–not random impulse buys.
I’m not especially flush with cash, but I prefer to spend what money I have on things that give me happiness. For me, this is travel, eating out, entertainment and my big guilty pleasure of cars.
Before my current car, I always drove something that was affordable and practical. My current car is a fairly sporty (but affordable) model that is a joy to drive. I don’t speed, but I do enjoy getting up to the speed limit quickly and taking corners at the speed limit. A car that hugs the road makes the journey fun and even though it wasn’t expensive, it’s design still turns a few heads. I’m hoping my next car will be as good.
The old adage about the best things in life being free is pretty true as well. I love walking the beach and trails near Glenbeigh with my new crazy dog Penny. I still miss Tim horribly, but it’s fun to watch this young puppy really enjoying her walks, exploring every nook and cranny and wanting to experience it all. It’s a challenge when walking through the village to keep her out of the open pub doors–she wants to go in and meet everyone inside.
A good walk clears the head and gets my creative juices flowing. I’ve solved loads of problems and had some great ideas just spring to mind during a walk.
I find this time of year very difficult. The days are too short and I feel like a vampire, trapped indoors during the day and only outside in darkness. I’ll count the days until the shortest day when the sun slowly starts gaining a grip again and the days lengthen.
It makes the winter days feel long and makes me feel like I’m wasting my time, losing days on end. It’s a challenge to get enough enthusiasm to do things when it’s dark and often cold.
But, all we have is time. How we spend it is up to us. We just have to cherish those little moments when they come and relish the really amazing days we experience.