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Happy Birthday to my sister, Lexie. She is my only sibling. Six years older than me.
When I was a kid growing up, folks reached 65 and it was considered the age at which people stopped working. Companies seemed to ordain that once you were 65 you were done. Finished.
Now that I’m 65 it feels so wrong. And incongruent with how the world works today.
I look at old photos of my grandparents when they were still in their 50s and they seemed so old to me at the time. Even through the lens of my 65-year-old eyes today, those old photos depict people much older than my current age. Never mind that they were a full decade younger than I now am – they looked old. They acted old. But they lived in a world where their peers looked and acted in a similar fashion.
I’m not sure how to properly define the lines of life, but mine seem to fall into a few different categories: spiritual, mental, relational, professional, and financial. There’s nothing absolute about these, but I can use them to illustrate the point of today’s show.
Spiritual is upfront because eternity changes everything. That makes our spiritual life the most important part of our life. Spiritual is the priority so it spills over into every other area.
Mental is next for me because it overlaps all of the others, too. It encompasses feelings and beliefs. It also includes our inner drive – the motivation we exhibit when we display the energy we have to achieve whatever it is we’re aiming to achieve.
Relational matters because it’s our interaction with others. From our closest relationships – like marriage – to our most casual – like some social media friends we’ve never met in person. Without this, there is no influence or impact on others. And without it, others have no influence on us either.
Professional is what we choose to do to earn a living.
Financial is our relationship with money. It includes the decisions we make with our money. Where we spend it. How we invest it. How we might waste it. Anything else involving our money, including our stuff!
These are a few of the lines I’m thinking about, but that’s not all of them.
I’m also thinking about the lines between who I am and who I most want to be. There’s the person I am versus the person I’m working to become.
I’m thinking of the past, present, and future lines, too. We all have a past that has contributed to helping us be who we now are. And all of our choices are going to impact who we’re likely to become.
As you can see, our lives are filled with lots of lines. It’s easy to understand how they can become blurred. Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish between them. For example…
It’s Always About The Money. Ok, Not Always, But Often!
Yes, that’s cynical. But mostly realistic. Regardless of our age money is the ever-present elephant in the room. Every room.
I’m not saying money matters above everything, but I am saying that money is a preoccupation with most of us. We spend the greater part of our lives earning it or trying to. Then we spend time lusting for things money can buy.
Money (financial) can crossover and impact all those other areas or lines.
I’m old. I’ve had no-telling-how-many conversations with people about money and luck. And timing. Permit a qualifier. I’ve only had a few conversations with people who were chasing a dream in the arts and performance areas of life. Those folks wanted fame. They wanted their work to be seen, heard, or experienced in some way. But since I started out in small business as a teen, most of my conversations have been with people who mostly wanted money – MORE money than they currently had, or were earning.
Preparing for your time to come means preparing so you can at long last make MORE money. Nothing wrong with that, I’m just acknowledging the elephant in the room — for many people. But this is logical. We all need money. Most of us need MORE money. Not all of us need, want, or crave fame or notoriety. And many people equate fame and notoriety with more money. More money seems more universal than any other pursuit.
I’ve already confessed how daily I feel as though my worth is based on dollars. Or lack thereof. It’s not intellectual or logical. It’s emotional. It’s a feeling. It’s just one example of the blurry lines of life. There are many more.
Blurry lines don’t have to remain blurry. We’re able to clear them up with sufficient work.
Sir Ken Robinson was brilliant, witty, and extraordinary. If you’ve not read his books, you should. Especially his books on finding your element – the thing you’re very good at and the thing you most enjoy!
It speaks to our story – the one we’re writing by how we live.
Please tell a friend about the podcast!