Sun Daze

I have written before about the natural rhythm of the Canadian Homo Sapiens. It is a strange and sun driven thing that falls somewhere between that of a Bear and a Penguin. You see, like both of those species of animal, the seasons really matter to us Canadians - as we basically have two - life and summer.

Define these however you want: Winter and Summer, Ice and Patio, Indoors and Outdoors, Hockey and Fishing... the thing is there are simply two seasons that are diametrically opposed.

Other countries and states probably have the same experience - at least our Nordic brethren; like Norway, Sweden, Russia, Alaskans... Life is measured between the blue clear sunshine of one season and the gray ice covered beauty of another.

In Canada we have adapted in surprising ways... winter tires, for example, are the norm - we put all seasons on for a few months after the thaw. We work harder and longer until that luscious period between Victoria Day and Labour Day when school work slows down, people always seem to be missing on the weekends, meetings dry up and we essentially spend our days out on the patio  with a BBQ and a beer.

Universities run September to mid April. It is no coincidence. This is the pattern we see life in.

For those of you who think that 70 hours a week is necessary and that sunshine be damned I am going to stay in my office until this report is done! I want you to consider two stories I heard. The first was in a leadership training class at Queen's Business school when the professor said this:

In life you have to think about two tables that you will be sitting around - the dinner table in your house, and the boardroom table in your office. Now... think about the week after you die of a heart attack, Then think about a month later, then think about a year later. At which table will you be missed?

Secondly, consider our more advanced sisters and brothers across the pond (or in fact around the world). Most of European workers get a minimum of 20 and sometimes 30 days off a year. Canadians are guaranteed 10. Americans get nothing guaranteed. 

Get a Full list Here if you are interested.

It is a sickness, this idea that work defines us and that we can only have a meaningful life by making money. The truth is that the enjoyment of life as it is offered is far more important to our mental, physical and emotional health. We need to be getting out there into the sunshine, we need to be getting to the beach, we need to relax!

Of Dream Jobs and Life

What do you do for a living? They say that people will do eight different things before they die. I am getting up there.

I have done the military, university, church, built fibreglass canoes and directed summer camps. Now I write and edit - and I do so because it is my dream job.

I see it as a way to change the world - to bring opinions and beauty and ideas to the fore in a way that captivates imagination and sets minds on their own journey of discovery.

But... and I do not say this lightly... it is harder than I thought it would be. This is a dream job dammit, life should just feel like cloud nine, everything should fall into place... I am doing something so few people get the chance to do and... I am blowing it.

Not that I cannot turn this ship around - but I have been getting lazy, sad, lonely, all of the things I have felt before in other jobs and other places - and so I am not putting my all into it like I was three months ago.

I am nothing if not introspective, however, and so I am offering this little discussion as a way to help those of you who find yourselves in my shoes (which, one day or another, is all of you)

Life is never going to be what you wish it was. Sure, there are days, weeks, months - for the lucky amongst us perhaps even years when things will be perfect. But that too will be fleeting. Life is real - and that means there is pain. Life includes loss. Life includes unhappiness. Life includes idiots cutting you off at the intersection.

I personally keep forgetting this. Perhaps I am the only one. Perhaps you are okay with this and understand the balance, the yin-yang nature of the universe. And so I find myself feeling that the world is letting me down and perfection is escaping only me. Everyone else is happy, right? Everyone else had the perfect day, right?

Luckily I have people in my life who call me on this bullshit way of seeing reality. But I wonder why I keep getting pulled back in. Do you ever get sucked back into the depression of seeing life as not fair? Do you ever start counting all the bad things that happen and forget about the good? Probably. I think we all do. But we need someone to come along and smack us upside the head and remind us that we are being babies.

So this is your wake up call. No one owes you anything. Life is not a bed of roses. The rain is going to fall... and.... it will be okay. Cause there is a rainbow. There is a flower garden. People will randomly do nice things for you... but you are responsible...

So get going. Don't just coast through this upcoming week - focus on making it better!