RUNNING NEVER GETS EASIER; YOU JUST GET STRONGER.
I didn’t grow up running, and didn’t start really until I was in my mid-twenties. But one day I decided I’d start running, and after hours and hours and miles and miles of training, I’ve finally become a runner. I sign up for races from time to time, to keep myself running because I certainly get burned out.
Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit. – Edward Abbey
To travel is an essential element of life. It doesn’t have to be epic, cross the world, hop around from luxury hotel to luxury hotel kind of travel. To see new places, meet new people, learn about other cultures and experience things that you would never be exposed to at home – these are surefire ways to open your mind and live with intention. We travel often – many, many weekends out of the year are spent in little adventures around the west coast, but we also love to see the world when we can get away from work for a bit. Our most recent big international trip was to Patagonia, and one of our favorite activities while we were there was a fly fishing float trip down the Caleufu River in Argentina, near Bariloche (which I mentioned briefly here). After months of anticipation, R.Swig has finally put together a Go Pro video of that part of our trip! Read more
Let’s talk about work. It’s something we all have to do (well, almost all of us, aside from those lucky few). It is often the activity that we do more than any other activity in our day. More than spending time with our families, children, friends, more than eating, more than any hobby that we have. And even more than sleeping. Yes, partner at my firm who shall not be named but who looked at me like I was insane when I said this: I spend far more time each day in my office than I do getting the much needed sleep that will keep my brain functioning through that next turn of the merger agreement. I often spend more hours in any given 24-hour period in my office than I do at all other places in the world outside of that building combined.
Our work/job/career (the name that you give it probably depends how you feel about it) is not only the activity that takes up the biggest part of our day, but it also often takes up the biggest part of our self identity. Our job sometimes [most times?] defines who we are and a huge portion of our self satisfaction, happiness and confidence comes from “what we do for a living.” Within 10 minutes of meeting someone new, no matter who it is that you are meeting or in what context you have met them, they will almost always ask: so, what do you do? We’ve all been there. We all do it. I am guilty of this just as much as anyone else. And so with such a big chunk of ourselves wrapped up in our careers, why is it that so many people are not happy or satisfied with their work? Is it that they like their job function, but don’t like the particular company or organization that they work for? Or perhaps it is their co-workers, managers or bosses that they don’t like? Or is it that so many people are simply working for the weekend? Picking up that paycheck so that they can really live the lives that they love in the book ends of each work week?
The answer to that question, of course, will differ for everyone. And certainly not everyone is unhappy with his or her job. But in my circle of friends and in my professional circle, most people would and do report not being fully happy with or fulfilled by their work.
If you have a baby, I will make you meatballs. I don’t know much about newborn babies or advice to give when my friends bring home their tiny little bundles of joy (it sounds like people are over-adviced anyways!), but I know how to cook and it seems to me that new mamas and papas don’t have much time for cooking in the first few weeks. So a home cooked meal is about the best I can do to help welcome all the new bambinos home. And many there are! Friends, neighbors, co-workers, family members – everyone’s joining the club and having babies and it makes me so happy to watch our friends turn into parents. Being Auntie Jackie is about the best thing in the world.
ALL THE BABIES!
This one is a hard one for me, because I have never been able to figure out how to balance things in life. I am a person who dives head first into something when I’ve made my mind up to do it, and usually I end up overdoing it – whatever it is – and as a result I live in a pretty constant state of stretching myself too thin and feeling tired. Really tired. All the time. I think it is something that most of us do. We live in a world that is uber connected and uber busy. Information is thrown at us from all directions – email, social media, television, car radio, phone, tablet, and now even our watches (!) – and with all of this information and knowledge and connectivity, we find it increasingly difficult to disconnect, to give ourselves time to breath and recharge and relax and balance the things that we want to do for ourselves with the things that we need to do. At least this is my experience, and the experience of most people that I know, particularly our friends in the Bay Area. But the point of this blog is to figure out how to live with intention, to find purpose and take active steps to achieve those purposes and not to let life pass us by.
As I sit with a coffee on a Saturday morning writing this post, I am feeling guilty that I am not (A) working (the ultimate guilt trip in my life), (B) hiking the beautiful headlands in Marin, (C) doing laundry, (D) taking the furbaby to the park, (E) brunching with friends, or (F) you name it – don’t our to do lists always go on for pages? And then I get stressed because I am feeling guilty and anxious and you can see how the cycle continues.
Welcome to The Pursuit of Life! I’ve been talking about this blog for ages, much to the annoyance of my hubs I’m sure, and have decided it’s time to put my words into action. I hesitate for a million different reasons, not least of which is because who has time for anything extra anymore?! But what a fun way to share the things that I love with anyone and everyone who cares to read about them, and so here we are. As I sit on the back deck of a house that we have rented with friends overlooking the Flathead River outside of Glacier National Park, in Hungry Horse, Montana, it seems like a good place to start.
At the very least this blog can be a way for our families to keep track of what’s been going on lately and what new cockamamie ideas we have sprouted and adventures we have sought. The ‘we’ here is my husband Ryan, our furbaby Coconut, and me. As a bonus, my day job lacks a creative outlet (which could be an understatement?), so I look forward to exploring the right side of my brain in a way that I’ve never allowed myself the time or energy before. And in striving to live my life with intention, to really pursue life and all of its joys, adventures, sorrows, feelings and experiences, perhaps I can bring some happiness, even if fleeting, to someone else.
Helen Keller said that ‘Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.’ It is one of my favorite things to remember. We are all here for a short, finite period of time, so we should strive to make the most of our lives. The pursuit of life means a very different thing to each and every person. Through this blog, you’ll come to see what the pursuit of life means to me. Each day won’t be a daring adventure, but each day will hopefully bring a few of life’s joys. Read more
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