May 14 Living the dream

Next week at the Ideas Cafe, we will discuss the idea of "living the dream".



I came across this phrase while looking at my physiotherapist's website.  It lists one of their previous physiotherapists as in Mexico "living the dream".  Presumably, he is retired and doing what he always wanted, living in a warm place, with few cares that previously came with work life.

It reminds me of the ending of children's books "......and they live happily ever after."

I am retired and many in the group are. Are we living the dream?  Does it feel like we are ?  Not having to wake up to the alarm clock and join in the rush hour traffic,  not having to deal with people and situations because they are in the way of our desired goals.  It all sounded like we are living the dream.

Except that it does not always feel like we are.

Ask anyone who has retired for a while and they will tell you that life is better than before but it is still a routine, not the utopia that working people think of.

If you have trouble believing this or think that we are just a bunch of hard to please people, just think of your previous situations.

Remember when you were in grade 9. Did the grade 12 students seem super cool?  They seem free.  They even get to choose what they are going to study! Lucky for them, school will be over soon. No more homework, unreasonable teachers.

But did you feel that way in Grade 12?  Maybe for a week, but soon, it is the fear of the uncertainties of college or the work world, the prospect of starting all over again from the bottom after being the most senior class in high school.  Why did you not enjoy what your grade 9 self thought you would have ?

It seems that we all have dreams of what we rather be instead of the present.

We work towards that but quickly develop dreams of something else that we rather be instead of enjoying the moment that we reach our previous dream.

Is this the inability to live in the present, that of mindfulness so popular today?

Can we ever be content if we seem to be forever chasing dreams, going for the grass that is greener elsewhere?

However, if we are able to appreciate the present, to savoir the moment, let it be, then what of tomorrow?

Should we stay in the world of grade 9 because that was what we wanted when we were in grade 6?

How long should we dwell on our previous dream before we explore new territories?

When should contentment give way to new explorations?

Can contentment ever become too much of a good thing?

Where is the balance?

Maybe that is the secret of the most popular leisure activities like golf. There is the satisfaction of achieving a better score but it soon gives way to wanting an even better score and the progression gets more and more difficult but still possible.

Without consciously knowing it, we are moving through life through one challenge after another, enjoying the thrill of success from time to time, only to be urged on to a new objective from the perspective of the new starting point.

Boredom is the motivation to search for new challenges, launch new expeditions.

We shall never rest.  Not for long in any case.