Now What?

Schottland - West Highland WadNow what? How often have you heard those words or said them yourselves? Said in an angry tone, you are telling people that you want nothing more to do with whatever is happening. Said with a normal tone and you could be asking for directions, what’s going to happen next, or, the subject of tonight, what to do when done with the current task. Children ask this all the time especially after the last Christmas present has been opened, so do adults. My question about now what is why?

Why is it that we must always be reaching for the next rung immediately? As soon as we have a firm grasp on the current rung, we immediately look up for the next hand grasp to pull ourselves up. We do not take the time to hang out where we are and take it all in. We do not look around, only up. Mind you, I am talking about more than work here. We are always looking for the next thing to do. There are some people who can stop, who can appreciate, who can enjoy their current place. I envy those people.

This is not a problem just for our society. I have traveled to many countries and found that while some countries do have a slower pace, many of the countries I visited also had the same drive. It is not even just a person to person issue, I can see this occurring in our communities, our state, and our country. Many of us, myself included, our always running for the top of the hill or if not the top to at least keep moving in some direction.

Now before I tick off too many people, I do understand that it is drive like this that moved our country ahead in the industrial race, helped us to win two world wars, and moved us to be the largest economy in the world. The drive is necessary to keep us ahead in so many areas. It is because of this want to be higher on the ladder that so many things have happened in this country. However, this drive trickles down and, as individuals, we don’t know how to stop.

As with most of my posts, this comes back to something I observed in the day. The person I observed was me. I am happy to say that I completed a number of tasks today. At the end of each task, I reached for my list saying now what. I never took time to accept that I was getting things done. I did not look back to see how hard some of those items were to complete. I did not stop to appreciate the people who were getting things done with and for me. I just kept reaching. As I shut down my computer, I started thinking about what I have done for the last four years. My brain immediately jumped to the, well, you’ve done a lot. Now what?

My pattern in life has always been tackle a challenge and then find the answer to those two little words. From the time I started working I would find that after two years, I would get the feeling of been there, done that. I would work very hard to learn, struggle, win, lose, complete the challenge, and then……..nothing. I would look around at whatever position I held and ask now what. I was fortunate that while I did the same main job for the Air Force for over nine years, my day to day job was changeable, and change I did. The good/bad thing is that I am not alone.

Many of my colleagues also ask that same question. Some follow a similar path, some find that they can satisfy this question with hobbies and interests. They find that they can stay put career wise, but they must always be striving to improve through other means. I am not sure when this drive went into overdrive. When you look back at the 50s and 60s, people worked for a company from beginning to end. Now companies do not expect it and employees do not want it.

Quite often, when pondering this question, I relate it to when we took our scouts to out on a two-day, 28 mile hike in the West Highland Way in Scotland. We were going up and down, 900+ feet. The scenery is breath-taking. I can remember having just walked through a small falls and reaching a peak. We stopped for a moment as the leaders looked around. The boys looked down the trail and back at us all asking, “Now what?” They did not want to look at the sights, they wanted to continue moving. They reached the goal and were searching for the next one.

I want to answer myself the same thing we told the boys, enjoy where you are. Enjoy what you have accomplished. Take it in. I have a number of friends who are within months or years or retirement, and they are starting to tell me the plans they have starting the day they no longer have to drive to work. I want to tell them the same. Wait a little. Enjoy where you are. Take in the number of years that you have toiled and rest before toiling some more.

Today, I hit 5000 views for my little site. I smiled. I cheered. I fist pumped. Then I asked, now what. Well, at least for this case, the now what is to reach 10000. I am happy to report that in this case, I am enjoying the view and plan to stay a while.

Thank you for meandering with me and taking the time to sit and enjoy the view.

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