Last week, I thought, “My favorite day of the year went unrecognized.” (I usually celebrate this day loudly). March 1st is my favorite day primarily because it’s the furthest away from February you can get. I think I missed it because this winter is not bad. In my mind - January and February always look like horrible, blizzardy, cold, dreadful months, and then March comes and bang - it’s spring. Grass turns green, robins come back, and I open my windows and life is good again.
“The Good Life” is always a matter of perspective. In my mind, I used to divide the year up into segments, and then I would always look forward to the next segment - even if I was in the “best” part of the year. It’s like playing a game of chess and thinking five steps ahead, but I lose out on so much. I lose out on enjoying the moment at hand. One of my Ragbrai friends said, “Steve, you need to stop worrying all the whole week about where we are staying, and if everyone is taken care of, and what’s happening tomorrow and … just enjoy the day and the moment!”. I thought about that, and I agree - I need to figure out how to do this, but frankly I’m not really sure how to do this.
Sometime in the next decade, I’ll retire (I don’t know when - don’t ask me), and if I haven’t figured it out by then, I’m sunk. I always hear these stories of retired executives who have no idea how to move on to the next chapter. They end up consulting or getting fat or dying.* Maybe if I start now, loving January for some unknown reason and February as well. Live in the moment and stop fretting about what “might” happen and focus on what “is” happening. But, to tell you the truth, that gives me anxiety.
It’s March, though, so I have 10 months to figure it out.
*All 3 sound awful.
