Angela's Exchange

Do You Want to Live Forever?

Do you want to live forever? You may not want to live forever, but most people want to live a long and healthy life. Not only do people want to live longer, they want to live life more fully.

How is that done? It's not really "done." It is a life long process and the formula is actually very simple . . . Play; create; and be productive every day of your life.

Thoreau said "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." Does that describe your life? In contrast, contemplate the words of Robert Louis Stevenson:"To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming is the only end in life."

We spend so much of our time at work; this is a logical place to start. Do the work that you love! Instead of "Illegitimi non carborundum" . . . "CARPE DIEM."

"Don't let the bastards wear you down" reflects survival in the meanest of circumstances. Bishop Burrill said "The difference between a rut and a grave is death." Who would want to live a long life in those circumstances? Instead, "seize the day;" CARPE DIEM; play; create and be productive every day of your life!

According to recent research, doing what you love to do, not what everyone expects you to do, can add years and happiness to your life. Doing what you want will not only bring you joy; it will give you energy. The energy you need to create the life you really want. Not only will you be happier living the life you want, you will be healthier! On the other hand, not doing what you want to do can have the opposite effect.

A banker in his mid-fifties found this out in a dramatic way. He was dying from leukemia. One day during a therapy session, he told the psychologist that as a child he dreamed of becoming a professional violinist. His father vehemently told him NO. The father told his then young son that it was "too feminine." Nearly a half a century later, at death's door, the banker began to play the violin, and his leukemia mysteriously went into remission.

It wasn't too late for the banker and it's not too late for you.

Author Marion Hart made a solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic at age 85.

Martha Graham choreographed her 180th work at age 95.

When Verdi was 80, he wrote Falstaff, one of his most popular works and he composed Ave Maria at age 85.

Picasso was still painting when he was almost 90.

Michelangelo designed St. Peter's dome in his late eighties and carved the Pieta at age 89.

Grandma Moses was 80 when she had her first one-woman show.

Tolstoy, Shaw and countless others, created well into their 70s and 80s.

If you are not doing the work that you love, you owe it to yourself and your loved ones to pursue it, to seize it, to grasp it. CARPE DIEM!

If you know what your dream job is. Begin taking the steps to obtain it. CARPE DIEM!

If you don't know what you want to do, start searching. CARPE DIEM!

There are many tools and resources available for you to get started. At the IRS, our employer has provided the Career Development Center. Take the orientation; talk to a career counselor; use the Career Point System. Career Point is an automated system. It will lead you through interest and skill inventories and suggest career areas that may be a good fit. It even has information on IRS jobs.

No matter who your employer, I recommend starting with this book - What Color is Your Parachute by Richard Nelson Bolles. It contains a wealth of information on job hunting and devotes four chapters to choosing or changing careers. In fact I recommend this book to anyone even remotely considering changing jobs and/or careers. In particular, note the lists of resources and the epilogue "How to find your mission in life."

We don't live forever; and life is too short to spend it "in quiet desperation." Play; create; and be productive every day of your life! Do the work you love! CARPE DIEM!

The American industrialist, Charles Schwab said: "A man can suceed at almost anything for which he has unlimited enthusiasm."

Angela Morgan wrote: in this little poem

Work!
Thank God for the swing of it,
For the clamoring, hamering ring of it,
Passion of labor daily hurled
On the mighty anvils of the world!

Kathe Kollwitz wrote: "For the last third of life there remains only work. It alone is always stimulating, rejuvenating, exciting and satisfying."

Do you want to live forever? Under those circumstances, I just might!