"Do What You Love"
Part of my catchphrase, but tough to live out...
If you’ve been following my online activities over the past few years, you’ve certainly heard me say, “Learn Everything, Do What You Love, and Most Importantly: Be Kind.”
I really do believe in the slogan, but I’ll freely admit, that middle part is difficult to make happen. Not only because life gets in the way and wants us to do things like “pay a mortgage” and “feed the kids” — but also because figuring out what you love is easier said than done. So for the past few years, I’ve been trying to notice when something I’m doing genuinely fulfills me. Unfortunately, it doesn’t happen nearly as often as you’d expect for someone who literally makes it part of his mantra. I mean, I have coffee mugs with the slogan on the side!
This past week, however, it happened twice.
One instance was when my wife had an idea for a display at work, and I got to figure out how to make it happen. For years, Donna was a drama teacher at a small school with a very limited budget. So when it came time for set design, she’d explain what she imagined the props would look like, and I’d fabricate something out of wood, foam board, and whatever else I could dream up. There were a few years when I had help from some dads, but at the end it was mostly just me. Back then, I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed the process, because I wasn’t paying attention to such things.
Now Donna works at a local Indie bookstore, and a big part of her job is coming up with creative displays. Just like when she was a drama teacher, that means I get to turn her ideas into reality. And it’s incredibly fun!!!
Donna asked me if I knew where to buy a couple ladders that she could lean together and lay boards on the rungs to act like shelves. An actual ladder is very expensive, much less two of them. Plus, ladder rungs are further apart than display shelves would ideally sit. But once I understood her vision, I came up with an idea to make ideally sized ladders, and shelves that wouldn’t slide off if bumped. The “ladders” certainly aren’t strong enough to climb on, but for shelving they’re fine. The funny thing is, I had no idea she was planning to make a Christmas themed display. She only shared the part of her vision I’d need to create the shelving. I really enjoyed making her idea into reality, and I realized just how much I miss fabricating her props and sets.
Learn Everything, Do What You Love, and Most Importantly: Be Kind.
The second time I found myself, “Doing What I Love” was very unexpected. A friend called out of the blue from his new job. He leads a team of developers, and they were working on some sort of Linux scripting solution for their code. They couldn’t figure out how to display output while also redirecting that output to a log file. He called me because he figured I’d know the, “Linux way” of doing such a thing. (Using the tee command, for what it’s worth) It took all of 20 seconds on the phone, but helping my friend and his team somehow made my entire day. Really. I texted him a bit later in the day to thank him for calling me. Oddly, he knew I’d appreciate the call, and it did really help him and his team.
Am I annoyed that my friend knew me better than myself? Nah, not really. But realizing just how much I enjoy helping people is valuable insight. Because while circumstances might not always allow me to focus on doing what I love — at least now I know what it looks like to follow my own advice!
Being a lifelong learner, and showing kindness are both choices we can make pretty easily. Doing what you love, however, can be a challenge. If I’ve learned anything over the past few years though, it’s that joy tends to come from doing things for others. What we actually do can vary from person to person, but the, “for others” part is pretty universal. And I think that’s downright spiffy.
So… what do YOU love?
NOTE: Tuesday, November 5th, 2024 is election day in the US. If you happen to live in the same country I do, be sure to cast your vote. It not only affects you, but can be a pretty simple way to do something for other folks as well.