Find the joy in life....

So I bought a new desktop computer in order to be able to return to my stream of consciousness blog posting without my laptop overheating and shutting down unpredictably. Nonetheless, after three months this is literally the first time that I have finally sat down to write something. It is amazing how quickly life takes off and leaves you with little time to devote to your passions unless you specifically allocate the time for them.

Such has been the thrust of my thinking of late. My latest employ has brought me into contact with many small business owners, who ostensibly follow their passions to the fullest, turning them into their primary source of breadwinning. Many are positive about their ventures, extolling their gratitude for how fortunate they have been to have built such a business, and yet others focus more specifically on the great deal of time and dedication that they have spent in building their enterprise. One even went so far as to declare that the income of a business owner may never even reach that of an employee, depending on the company or business, taking into account all of the benefits and vacation time that a typical company offers the typical employee.

Still, I am not completely sold one way or another. I firmly believe that each one us has a passion in this life, discovered or still hidden in the rough. Each one of our life journey guides us either closer to or farther from that which we love in the deepest part of our inmost self. It is to us to read the guideposts or comprehend the signs along the way, and follow them to the place of our greatest joy.

Think about it. What brings you joy in life? When do you feel most alive?

My answer to this question would bring me to discuss several aspects of my life. I love language and the interplay that it creates among individuals and the development of culture that it stimulates. I love volleyball and its interdependency and the positive community that it invariably creates in every area I have encountered it. I love my wife, the family that we have built, and the welcoming, warm environment that we have been able to build, and into which we invite others and extend to the other parts of our respective families.

I love exercise and movement. I love spontaneity and feeling unconstrained by the conventions and norms that govern our society. Countercultural, unrestrained, fearless, open and opinionated; any of these could describe me at different points in my life, and I have not always enjoyed every moment.

I feel most free, and the most joy when I can be who I am in the deepest part of me, and still feel loved.

I also enjoy working with my hands. I have learned that this is more crucial to my passion and joy than I ever could have imagined. I enjoy touch, and it is the strongest amongst my love languages, and thus I suppose that it should not surprise me that this should be integral to the work that I seek. Interestingly enough however, I only now came to think about how important this might be. Like my father, I too enjoy working outside and so thus, maybe it would make sense for me to pick up what he does and take it to the next level? I don't know. I have long shied away from anything remotely tying me to my hometown and family, but perhaps therein lies the answer. This would not mean that I would have to conduct business in Rockford, but could take the industry anywhere I want.