#15: Embracing Awareness and Idleness

For someone who worked 3 parallel careers for 20+ years and built several businesses, traveled extensively, and generally got up at 4 am every day to get things done, I admit…

I don’t want to be busy anymore.

At least not with things I don’t love.

I’m focused heavily on…

- Growing more family 

- Giving back to society

- Coaching and teaching everything I know.

- Living in places full of culture and wonderful people

- Working on creative projects like small bed and breakfast style businesses and topical documentaries to be part of the local community.

Note: The first documentary supported follows the Winds of Change Cyprus Initiative and will be featured at the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace (IDSDP) 2024.

I’ve become very aware of how I spend my time and with whom. I’ve also become aware that I want idle time as well, to recharge, think, and breathe so I can get back out there and Try Life On again.

I’m going through an evolution that mentors (in their 60s and 70s, I’m 48) warned me about (and I want to share it with you).

They told me, over time, that my value system would change, and that I’d want to spend more time building family than business. More time solidifying relationships with those I love rather than building new ones, more time coaching, and mentoring on what I’ve learned rather than using my skills for personal gain.

“…I wish I would have stopped at 50 when I was financially okay. I wasted another 13 years chasing things I didn’t need and lost out on a lot of life”.

– Julie (a mentor)

I’ve built enough businesses, I’ve traveled to enough places, and I’ve secured enough financial resources. When does the insatiable appetite for more end? When does our infinite potential for personal growth finally come to a stop?

I don’t want more. What I want is more life.

It’s easy to get lost in the rhythm of the race. Look around any city and people are running everywhere.

Chasing more forever is a ‘disease’ (the dis-ease of being busy because we are never at ease) that destroys the ability to plug into the planet and life as intended, because we are too busy to experience life itself.

On Monday, September 24, I ran into the following quote and it solidified things for me…

The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.

- Alan Wilson Watts

Many seem to be on a continual accumulation cycle of titles, businesses, and even entrepreneurial endeavors. We are all running when in many cases we don’t have to. It’s just a reflex to what is happening around us.

Now if you love this stuff, that’s different. But if you are doing it just because you’re used to it, because you see other people running around chasing a status symbol to prove worth, that’s where we start to run into trouble, and that’s not a way to Try Life On. Contrary, it overcomplicates life.

I see this more and more nowadays, especially in my entrepreneurial circles.

The moment I realized it I started making changes, preparing for my future in a very intentional way. As my favorite author, Bill Perkins says in his book Die With Zero, 

"I am no longer optimizing for max money. I'm optimizing for max life fulfillment."

And that means embracing awareness and idleness.

Just wanted to give you a perspective.

Be aware of your time and space.

Be idle when you can. Enjoy life more.

We only have one.

- Maurice