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FIND WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY AND DO IT FOR AT LEAST 10 MINUTES A DAY
I don’t really like this title because it sounds like the beginning of a cheesy self-help book, but I couldn’t think of any other way to capture what I want to say. I woke up this morning and realized that today was one of those days when I really didn’t want to go to work, talk on the phone, face my ever-long to-do list, deal with subways and crowds and lines, talk with overly rude or overly nice people, think about taxes, eat oatmeal to please the cholesterol gods, and just in general deal with all the stuff that fills so much of every day. I tried to climb under the covers and hide from it all, but it failed to work, and I was on my way soon enough.
When I sat down at my desk at work--with my bowl of oatmeal at bay--I tried to look through my emails, but I couldn’t focus. All I wanted to do was not do what I had to do, and when I feel that way, you couldn’t pay me to be efficient. I tried to read the New York Times online, but that failed to capture my attention for more than a minute. The oatmeal was getting colder, the minutes kept ticking by, and I just couldn’t get going.
I looked back at the computer screen, where the New York Times tried to lure me in with headlines like “Bush Will Not Give Evidence On Iraq During State of the Union” and “60 Minutes Creator Steps Down,” and I saw a story about a publishing company, Random House, I think. Random House, publishing, books, our publishing company, our books, new book ideas…
By the time my mind got to “new book ideas” I had already opened a new Word document and started typing. I love nothing more than to come up with new ideas, for books or other things, and can spend hours thinking about them and trying to figure out ways to make them happen. I get completely lost in these ideas, however realistic or unrealistic they might be, and while I’m in my “creating” mode, nothing much can make me feel unhappy or pessimistic or whatever other negative feelings we get all too often.
A reminder popped up on my computer, telling me that I didn’t have hours to wallow in my creating mode, but just a few minutes until I had to earn my keep and get on a conference call. And I was fine with that. The ten minutes I just spent doing something that makes me absolutely crazy ecstatic got me out of my “can’t face the day” mood into one with which I could finish my oatmeal, cross off a few things from my to-do list, deal with a rude person or two, and even smile as I saw people pack into a New York City subway like too many sardines in a can without oil to smooth the way.
Find what you love to do, what makes you crazy ecstatic, and try to do some of it every single day, even if only for a few minutes, and even if it’s for fewer minutes than you’d ideally like to do it for. It’s easy to say that we should all follow our dreams and do what we love in life all the time, but it’s not always realistic or practical. I can’t pay my rent with my ideas, at least not until I turn one or two of them into something real. But I can pursue them; I can enjoy the process of thinking about them and the positive energy that I get from them.
Start small, but start. Do something that makes you really happy every day and you’ll find that your days are better. You might one day turn your passion into something that takes up most of your time and pays the bills, but that’s secondary and you shouldn’t obsess about it.
Life is short--try to fit as much ecstatic time into as you can.
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