Work

Beer tastes as good at 10:00 am as it does at 5:00 pm. No surprises there. Food is exciting and as good at relieving boredom as a check in the mailbox. And a nap? Well, a perfectly timed mid day nap can make you feel like a millionaire. But these are luxuries that us working people only enjoy when we are on vacation or off for a holiday. Things we treat ourselves with when the work is done, enjoying the carrot that once dangled from the stick. We all sit at our desks or drive the big truck dreaming of doing something else. Something we want to do. Something fun.

So is this what you would do if you won the lottery? If that rich uncle you never knew you had died and left you a fortune, would this stuff still be fun? Probably for awhile. Every time I have been asked what the first thing I would do if I won the lottery was, I answer "admit myself to the Betty Ford clinic". It always gets a laugh, but really you would have to be pretty sure of yourself if you woke up one morning and never had to work again. Because as fun as it sounds, napping through Oprah drunk, weighing 400 pounds would not be fun. Not for long anyway.

I'm not saying that I would not want to win the lottery. I'd be willing to give it a try. People retire everyday and make themselves useful and happy. They do things they have wanted to for most of their life. Now they have time! Some start a new business and work harder than they did before they retired. They do this because they are finally doing something they want to do. They have planned for it.

As I sit here looking out the window on a cold, rainy January morning I wish I were somewhere else. Doing something fun in the sunshine. Somewhere warm with beer and an ocean involved. But this is just a dream and it will have to wait because I have to work. But the idea keeps me going. The want makes me save my money and vacation time. The desire makes me plan for the future. It makes me dream. So I ask the question, "Is it better to love your job and work too much, or tolerate it and hurry to finish"? The dream of the winning lottery ticket probably makes you happier than owning it! If you held it in your hand where would your dreams go? Away? Work to live, but live to dream.