It’s outrageously gorgeous outside today. Low 70s, sunny,
pleasant breeze, just enough clouds to give the sky some character, and
unnaturally low humidity for Illinois in late July. Today, I received an overwhelmingly
positive yearly review at work. Yesterday, I whipped up a number of delicious
dishes from yogurt to pizza, loaves of bread to vegetable soup, and topped off
by putting away yet another gallon of dill pickles for the winter. Saw a
delightful play at the Shakespeare Festival, Saturday evening. Will be going to
Much Ado About Nothing on Wednesday
(with a date, no less!), and starting next week, I’ll spend two successive
weekends celebrating the marriages of close friends from college.
Here I sit on my… patio? Well, out back of my apartment,
anyhow. I’m sipping a beer on a Monday evening, watching the wind play through
a hodge-podge of potted plants. A solid month passed the halfway point of my
thirty-first year, enjoying such uncommon July weather following one hell of a
good workday that came on the heels of a beautiful weekend, and I find myself
thinking, does anyone deserve such contentment? No doubt many do, but I can’t shake the feeling the world
has been too good to me.
A social science heavy undergraduate degree, combined with a
graduate program in community development and Peace Corps service certainly
drove home the whole unworthy-of-my-privilege lesson, which I still fully
recognize and stand by. But HOLY SHIT am I grateful for it! The depth of
contentment I feel these days, the peaceful community I live in, the prosperity
I enjoy, clean bill of health, supportive family, generous friends, unrivaled
educational opportunities, expansive global adventures, varied skillset
building professional development, and full practical use of the world’s
preeminent, theoretical and legally codified, set of human rights (straight,
white male of upper-middle-class-educated suburbia, sup?). Fair few in the
current times are afforded so much. I note this fully aware, too, that life can get better.
My lifestyle is probably on the modest end of the spectrum
by U.S. standards, though undoubtedly on the lavish end worldwide. And, I
reveled just as much in the bounty of my daily life when I was on the
lavish end of Woleai’s spectrum, yet the modest end worldwide.
Reflecting on any of the happiest, most fulfilled times in my life says pretty clearly to me that material concerns aren’t so terribly important.
It’s the purpose. Just listened to a news story today, in
fact, talking about how stress doesn’t affect people living a purposeful life
in the same way as those less mindful of what they’re working/living for. That
definitely matches my experience to date. I feel so much purpose, deep and rich
purpose in my day-to-day, and it’s combined with clarity of vision to really
see both my goals and how I intend to reach them. Swirl it all together with
the belief that the World can-AND-will get better; well, then you have the most
honestly satisfied, stable and sensational days I’ve known.
Taken altogether, I even have an answer to the logical
question: what else could a person ask
for? That more people could enjoy the same. Living the Dream. Hope you are,
too.
