Perspective

16 Dec 2010
Met up with a friend for lunch last week. I haven't seen him for 9 months and boy was he different. He lost 15kg and had a vastly different perspective towards life from 9 months ago.

He attributed his weight loss to his new vegan diet. And he recommended a book - 4 day work week, which changed his perspective about work and motivated him to look for ways to earn money without working. 

I curiously asked him how was that was possible. Given that was pretty good with IT, he had written & sold an iPhone app that was generating him some income - without any ongoing labor!

Just chatting with him set me thinking about my own life. I, like many others, grumble about work, but I work anyway for the income and mental stimulation. And truth be told, life is so much more than just work. I spend at least 1/3 of everyday at work...and even longer when I  include time spent preparing to go to work, overtime, etc.  On an annual basis, this works to at least 25% of my  life. If I were to work from 21-50 years old, that is equivalent to at least 7.5 years of my life. 

Work-life balance has become priority since J entered my life. He is only going to be a baby once, and I definitely don't want to miss his growing years. Which is why J is my top most priority - I don't ever want to regret not spending sufficient time with him. I know my mum regrets it, and I understand how it feels as a child - so I am determined that my baby gets all my time, love, hugs and kisses possible :) I often hear parents lamenting that their babies grow up too fast, and I want to treasure my time with my precious J before he is all grown-up with little time left for his parents. 

So I am thinking hard what exactly I want from life. J is super important, but I am not exactly stay-home mum material. I don't mind working, but I don't want to be a slave to my work. I want to lead a happy and meaningful life, with the freedom and time to do what I want. Yet at the same time, I need some income for sustenance and shopping :) 

I think many of us just live by rote - study, work after graduation and we work hard. Some of us may succeed and make a significant mark, but more often we remain worker ants only to be replaced by younger and higher-energy people. And then we retire, and we find that we don't have much time and energy to enjoy life after that. 

Do I want that? Not really. I thank God that I am starting to see things from a different perspective, and badly need His guidance on what I should do. Don't get me wrong, people should still work - after all, there is no free lunch in this world. But we should live life to the max, be happy always, & not let work overwhelm us. Work is after all just a means to earn our keep...I am not sure how many people will think fondly of their accomplishments at work at their deathbed. It's a bit morbid to think about death, but that is everyone's endpoint and when we think of this unavoidable ending, it helps to bring into perspective what are the really important things to us. 

On my deathbed, I hope I can think about the lives I've touched, the smiles I brought to people around me. I'd wish terribly that I had spent more time with my loved ones & pray that God's abundance of blessings will fill their lives always. That God's love, joy and peace will be with them always, that they will be blessed with excellent health, that they will stay close to Jesus always, and that they will lead a meaningful, happy and fulfilling life. That those who do not know Jesus will believe in Him soon. I hope to be ready and excited that I am going to a better place. Anyway it's great to know that we can indeed live happily ever after when we believe and trust in the Lord!