You ever get the feeling that the pressure is getting really high. It could be that the goals you set are too big, that others have over inflated expectations of what you can you can do, or you are running with a crowd at a pace that is clearly uncomfortable. I think as we pursue THPL we run the risk of confusing our goals and efforts to achieve them, with a feeling of burden and stress. Seems to me hard to avoid, you make a commitment and you intend to deliver. Ah, but stress creeps in and it is insidious. Makes us less happy and more grumpy. Unfortunately we do not see it (the grumpiness) and we press forward as if everything is fine. Reminds of my days at E&Y when a partner of mine told me I needed a vacation and my response was a ‘barking” I do not need one. The sudden awareness of my misstatement and realization that he was right was a lesson to be learned. When you get too caught up in reaching for just the goals you not only make mistakes you change who you are and you lose part of your identity. You become one dimensional and we all know that is not good and will not lead to THPL.
And so what to do about it? First and foremost, go in search of your sense of humor. Laugh at least twice a day, once at yourself and once at something else. Laughing more than once is great but you might want to set modest goals and exceed them. Funny thing (yes this is a pun) is that you and others will feel better when you do this. Second, put yourself in a setting where you feel uncomfortable, poke fun at yourself, dance in a crowd, wear funny clothes, pose for pictures and most of all smile. And third (there are always three) try doing something you are not good at. Make a few mistakes, laugh, try again and again and work it but not to perfection. It is ok if others are better than you.
My guess is that if you give this approach a try you will improve your chances of living THPL. Once you stop taking yourself so seriously, you will be better at what you do because you will be relaxed, others will truly want to be with you because you are funny and make them laugh and by allowing yourself to be “human’ aka able to make mistakes, others will want to be with you as they realize you are actually just a regular person, just like them.
A living example in my life (and many of yours as well) - here they are, the modern day PennFoster Charlie’s Angel’s, playing, having fun, taking risks and living life. Yup, loving life – because you only do this when you do love life.
Laughing out Loud….. indeed
And with inspiration from my friends I went at it again, Sally to the end 3:26 +20 seconds and 190 pushups again (on 4:17) - no way I was going to let them down!
Ciao
Joe