As a thirty-something Generation X’er, I am surrounded with friends who are in the midst of early-life crises. It seemed that for the Baby Boomers this crisis was “mid-life” in the forty to fifty age range. Now it seems to be happening earlier, because of all the opportunities we now have at our disposal.
This early-life crisis that seems to strike between 25 and forty is generally work or career related and the number of people I know personally who have made a complete change of career, gone back to study or taken extended leave to travel the world before 35 is amazing.
I’ve done all three.
What I noticed about my life and about others is how they become energized during and after this change. This energy is what carries you through the upheaval, and the fresh new energy afterwards is a sign that you’re on the right track. That’s enthusiasm for life.
Dale Carnegie said, “Enthusiasm is more than just zest for work. It is for the whole of life and living. If you have it, you have a priceless possession. Cherish it.”
I believe that enthusiasm for life comes when you are living your dream. Deep down we all know what we would do “in an ideal world”. For many of us it takes a personal tragedy or a life-threatening illness to make us change the way we live, to set us on the right track. A friend of mine in his late thirties, quit his high-paying, stressful job to chase his dream after he saw his brother die in a car accident.
If you’re thinking that you don’t feel enthusiastic about your job or your life, I’m sure you can find at least one thing that you’re enthusiastic about. Maybe it’s spending time with grandchildren, walking the dog, golfing, volunteering at church, working in the garden, skiing… it doesn’t matter. Think of that one thing, or the many things that get you excited. That’s the feeling you’re looking for; that feeling of anticipation when you start a new and exciting job, the thrill of a first date, or the excitement of seeing or learning something new.
It’s a great feeling when the path you’re taking in your life is completely in synch with your hopes and dreams. It’s not that difficult to be there. It’s all about making some decisions. Decide what it is you want in your life and what you don’t. One piece at a time, add or remove the respective aspects to your life.
The only catch is you’ll have to take a risk. This is obvious, really, because the risks you have taken so far in life had got you where you are today. To get somewhere else tomorrow, you’ll have to do something different, also known as taking a risk.
In my personal experience of taking risks, and from those I’ve observed, I see that risk-taking is nearly always a positive experience. Win, lose or draw, taking a risk means personal growth and perhaps a new perspective. I can attribute nearly all of the greatest experiences in my life to times when I took a risk. The bigger the risk, it seemed, the bigger the pay-off. Of course if a risk is taken and the result appears to be negative, it’s how we deal with that result that has the greatest effect on our life.
Thomas Edison discovered 10,000 ways not to invent a light bulb, before he found the right way. From Abraham Lincoln to Donald Trump, there are countless examples of hugely successful people who all took risks and failed, but picked themselves up and continued on.
Unfortunately for many of us, it takes only one small setback and we abandon chasing our dreams, relegating them to “unattainable dream” status.
In this respect we can learn a lot from children. Their life is all about experiments, taking risks, doing things they’ve never done before, falling down, getting hurt, but nevertheless, trying again until success presents itself.
Take a leaf out of a child’s book and take a risk! Go for it! Your life will never be the same again!
Monday, June 04, 2007
Saturday, June 02, 2007
An Inspiration
On this day, the second day of June 2007, it is my father's 60th birthday. Other than being a great Dad and role model over the last three decades, he has recently made a change in his life which is truly inspirational.
Faced with the prospect of not getting travel insurance to travel to Canada, due to an angioplasty he had done nearly ten years ago. Dad has now become a high-risk traveller and cannot get travel insurance for his heart condition.
This might have been a small nudge for many people, but for Dad it was a massive wake-up call. A little overweight, but quite unfit, Dad started a new regime of eating less, eating better, drinking less alcohol and doing a lot more exercise. Since March 3rd, he has only missed his daily 10km walk once due to bad weather. In three months he has lost nearly 30 pounds and is almost back to his wedding day weight from 1971. His blood-pressure is down, his fitness is up, he's feeling better and more motivated in life now that he has all this extra energy.
After hearing the news in March that he couldn't get insurance they cancelled their trip to Canada to visit us, but the trip is now back on. With their second grandchild due in early September, they will be here for the birth and despite not getting insurance, both Dad's doctor and cardiologist don't see him having any heart risk due to travel.
Who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks?
Faced with the prospect of not getting travel insurance to travel to Canada, due to an angioplasty he had done nearly ten years ago. Dad has now become a high-risk traveller and cannot get travel insurance for his heart condition.
This might have been a small nudge for many people, but for Dad it was a massive wake-up call. A little overweight, but quite unfit, Dad started a new regime of eating less, eating better, drinking less alcohol and doing a lot more exercise. Since March 3rd, he has only missed his daily 10km walk once due to bad weather. In three months he has lost nearly 30 pounds and is almost back to his wedding day weight from 1971. His blood-pressure is down, his fitness is up, he's feeling better and more motivated in life now that he has all this extra energy.
After hearing the news in March that he couldn't get insurance they cancelled their trip to Canada to visit us, but the trip is now back on. With their second grandchild due in early September, they will be here for the birth and despite not getting insurance, both Dad's doctor and cardiologist don't see him having any heart risk due to travel.
Who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks?
Friday, June 01, 2007
Facebook Phenomenon
For those of you who haven't become a www.facebook.com member, it's this fairly new free networking/personal web space product that allows you to keep in touch with everyone on it, and find old friends.
Yesterday an old friend from school, whom I literally have not seen or heard from for over ten years found me. (Having a unique name sort of helps that process a little). But it was amazing to re-connect with someone from the past so easily and efficiently.
When I compare these times of technology to 1992 when I spent a year in Germany, a time when there was no Internet, no email and very expensive international phone calls, you rely heavily on the traditional postal service, which we now call "snail mail", but at the time was the quickest method we had.
Every week my parents would write me two letters, one with the news from the family and one with sporting news, which included newspaper clippings for me to read. You can probably guess which parent sent which letter. In return I wrote a letter to my parents every week as well, in addition to letters to all my other friends. I cherished every letter I received and read every page of newspaper clippings. These letters were my connection to home.
Once a month my parents would call me for half an hour.
Now, living away from Australia I am able to email, access Australian news online, speak to my parents for free over the Internet, and reconnect with old friends in Australia and the rest of the world through Facebook.
Many people argue that technology is ruining the world, but if you take it in appropriate doses, it's making the world a better connected place. These days it will be nearly impossible to lose touch with someone.
Yesterday an old friend from school, whom I literally have not seen or heard from for over ten years found me. (Having a unique name sort of helps that process a little). But it was amazing to re-connect with someone from the past so easily and efficiently.
When I compare these times of technology to 1992 when I spent a year in Germany, a time when there was no Internet, no email and very expensive international phone calls, you rely heavily on the traditional postal service, which we now call "snail mail", but at the time was the quickest method we had.
Every week my parents would write me two letters, one with the news from the family and one with sporting news, which included newspaper clippings for me to read. You can probably guess which parent sent which letter. In return I wrote a letter to my parents every week as well, in addition to letters to all my other friends. I cherished every letter I received and read every page of newspaper clippings. These letters were my connection to home.
Once a month my parents would call me for half an hour.
Now, living away from Australia I am able to email, access Australian news online, speak to my parents for free over the Internet, and reconnect with old friends in Australia and the rest of the world through Facebook.
Many people argue that technology is ruining the world, but if you take it in appropriate doses, it's making the world a better connected place. These days it will be nearly impossible to lose touch with someone.
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