Looking back, Taking Stock, Moving on
Of late, I have noticed a difference in how I choose what I am going to do with my time. Anymore, I am a lot more selective in my pursuits and in my passions. Since most of my life has already been lived, the time I have left becomes far more precious. So now my choices are made more thoughtfully and with greater care.
I will give you an example. With all the genres of music out there, I don't try to even begin to like or understand most of them. I am sure that there are some types of music I would probably enjoy to listen to very much. But with so many hours in the day, I will stick with my own personal favorites: Broadway music, arias sung by tenors, Jewish music, classic rock, and the music of the Rat Pack... and the songs performed by Eva Cassidy. I am not saying that is what everyone should listen to in music. There are no right answers that fit the need of everyone. But these are the choices that work for me.
For the most part, television has become a mindless landscape of bad taste and less than funny sitcoms. So it is a good thing G'd commissioned man to create DVDs and VHS tapes. Well, the truth is if you search carefully amongst the 150 or so channels on cable, there are actually some very good shows out there. But time is the enemy. Even with television, I need to ration my time in order to see the shows that I really want to see. It is ever so easy to be seduced into watching some show with very little value or entertainment content... and to then keep on mindlessly watching a few more shows, while I just veg out.
The same goes for the books I now choose to read. My taste has changed now and I have to make time to read the books on my hit list. We do not live in a time which affords us the time or the quiet settings to just escape in a good book. To get to actually have the time to read, I have to make the choice not to do something else I would also like to do or not do something I would really need to do [but which I would really prefer not to do.].
Most importantly, I am choosing to work for myself rather than for somebody or some company. I have figured out who I am now and the setting in which I can actually be successful. I have figured out that it is no more scary anymore to work for myself that to work for some company. Either way, there is no job security and I sure the hell am not going to fire myself. The only one who can make me fail is myself, and that is not an option I find acceptable.
I guess this is all really about my choosing about how I want to live my life. I first had to figure out who I was and what I wanted to be and what I wanted to accomplish. That took awhile. But at least it happened for me. Until that happened, I couldn't move on with my life. Now I can.
And of course, it has become clear to me that one of these days I will not be able to work at all, so I had better put some money away for that eventuality. The acceptance of that reality has really enabled me to keep focused and to motivate me to do whatever it is going to take to accomplish that objective.
Looking back, I can see where I could have avoided some of my more regretable choices. I cannot peer into the future with the same certainty or clarity. But at least, I can be a far more functional person in the present. I can navigate the present with greater assurance and can exercise much greater judgment as I am confronted with the next challenging situation.
Life is a most challenging journey. I am making my journey as well as I can. G'd willing, I will be able to take care of those things essential for me to do, to have those moments when I can enjoy those things about which I am most passionate and to make some small difference in the world.
Having spent a couple of years to takes stock of myself and my life, I am now as prepared as I every will be. Now I know the future is not something to be feared or that I must always be waiting for the other shoe to drop. I no longer see the future that way anymore. Now, for me, it is just a matter of taking things as they come, one thing at a time. At minimum, each new day is always interesting and challenging for me.
Keep coming back to catch my upcoming posts. I will let you know how things turn out.
Howard Fireman
June 11, 2008
I will give you an example. With all the genres of music out there, I don't try to even begin to like or understand most of them. I am sure that there are some types of music I would probably enjoy to listen to very much. But with so many hours in the day, I will stick with my own personal favorites: Broadway music, arias sung by tenors, Jewish music, classic rock, and the music of the Rat Pack... and the songs performed by Eva Cassidy. I am not saying that is what everyone should listen to in music. There are no right answers that fit the need of everyone. But these are the choices that work for me.
For the most part, television has become a mindless landscape of bad taste and less than funny sitcoms. So it is a good thing G'd commissioned man to create DVDs and VHS tapes. Well, the truth is if you search carefully amongst the 150 or so channels on cable, there are actually some very good shows out there. But time is the enemy. Even with television, I need to ration my time in order to see the shows that I really want to see. It is ever so easy to be seduced into watching some show with very little value or entertainment content... and to then keep on mindlessly watching a few more shows, while I just veg out.
The same goes for the books I now choose to read. My taste has changed now and I have to make time to read the books on my hit list. We do not live in a time which affords us the time or the quiet settings to just escape in a good book. To get to actually have the time to read, I have to make the choice not to do something else I would also like to do or not do something I would really need to do [but which I would really prefer not to do.].
Most importantly, I am choosing to work for myself rather than for somebody or some company. I have figured out who I am now and the setting in which I can actually be successful. I have figured out that it is no more scary anymore to work for myself that to work for some company. Either way, there is no job security and I sure the hell am not going to fire myself. The only one who can make me fail is myself, and that is not an option I find acceptable.
I guess this is all really about my choosing about how I want to live my life. I first had to figure out who I was and what I wanted to be and what I wanted to accomplish. That took awhile. But at least it happened for me. Until that happened, I couldn't move on with my life. Now I can.
And of course, it has become clear to me that one of these days I will not be able to work at all, so I had better put some money away for that eventuality. The acceptance of that reality has really enabled me to keep focused and to motivate me to do whatever it is going to take to accomplish that objective.
Looking back, I can see where I could have avoided some of my more regretable choices. I cannot peer into the future with the same certainty or clarity. But at least, I can be a far more functional person in the present. I can navigate the present with greater assurance and can exercise much greater judgment as I am confronted with the next challenging situation.
Life is a most challenging journey. I am making my journey as well as I can. G'd willing, I will be able to take care of those things essential for me to do, to have those moments when I can enjoy those things about which I am most passionate and to make some small difference in the world.
Having spent a couple of years to takes stock of myself and my life, I am now as prepared as I every will be. Now I know the future is not something to be feared or that I must always be waiting for the other shoe to drop. I no longer see the future that way anymore. Now, for me, it is just a matter of taking things as they come, one thing at a time. At minimum, each new day is always interesting and challenging for me.
Keep coming back to catch my upcoming posts. I will let you know how things turn out.
Howard Fireman
June 11, 2008
posted by hfireman | 9:51 PM
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