You want to be happier? Maybe even content? How about feeling an abundance of joy?
I know, I know. You say you can’t but it’s not true. You see that picture of me, and my wife. Do we look happy? Are we smiling? Of course we are – we are having a blast! We just finished running a 5K Pirate run with about a hundred or more other people. We didn’t take first place, we didn’t take second place, we didn’t even get close to third place but we are happy. We are having a great time.
So you want to be happier? The first thing I’m going to tell you is to get out, and start doing something. Anything! Stop sitting around your television. Stop sticking your nose into your mobile phone for crying out loud. Get a life will you! Don’t get upset with me. I use my phone too, but it’s not my life, this website is not my life, writing books and trying to sell those on Amazon is not my life, and my work is not my life.
Life is what you make it.
I recall my wife and I sitting around and being bored. Yes, bored people are dumb people. We do the same thing over and over and we expect a different result. Our conversations would start like this:
“So what do you want to do?”
“I don’t know, what do you want to do?”
“I don’t know. ” There would be a short pause. “Want to go to the movies?”
“No.”
Followed by another short pause.
“Want do go out to eat?”
“No.”
Then there’s a longer pause as we try to figure out what can we do until one of us comes up with an idea.
“Want to watch American Ninja Warrior?”
“Sure.”
By the way we love American Ninja Warrior, but that’s not my point.
That’s basically how things went. Our bored lives were uneventful lives. The “I don’t know? What do you want to do routine”, drove me mad. Years, and years of this back and forth. It was draining. On top of that doing weekly repeats of the movies or to grab a bite to eat lost its appeal. So, what did we do differently? Did we suddenly become pirates?
I decided to go hiking one day. I was hiking nearly everyday for several months. I decided to get out and walk the trails at the nearby state park. I bought a pass so I wouldn’t’ have to pay $5 bucks each time I entered the park. I got a veteran’s discount too…cool. I didn’t know why I needed this and I didn’t see what was coming next. I just got off my ass and said to myself “put down the work, put down the writing, and go for a hike.” And I did.
I made myself do it. I didn’t degrade myself, I didn’t demean myself at all. I just told myself to go and do it. Get out. Get some air. Walk. Do something outside of your work, your house, the television, the phone, that freaking social media site that sucks the life out of you ever second you check the dam thing. Just get out. There’s life. It’s out there. Go and find it.
The remarkable thing that happened after I had been walking, and hiking on my own for a while was my wife started to join me. My sons, started to join me. We were hiking together after school, after work, and always when the sun was lower because let’s face it , it’s freaking hot in Florida in the summer, and the spring, and the fall. Hell even our winters can be hot sometimes. They call it the sunshine state for a reason.
After we had been hiking for a month or so, Lydia, my wife, had decided to sign up to run a half marathon at Disney World. I wrote about it in another blog. We started to run together, and we built up our stamina and now we run a 5K every weekend. We have a group we ran with this last nine weeks, training together. It’s really a lot of fun, you start to run into the same people, and even get to know a few folks. We cheer each other on, we clap, we yell, we have a great time.
I’m sure some people at the Pirate run were wondering who I was when I ran by them in my pirate outfit holding up a gold coin and saying “I’m running for me goooold”.
If they read this blog, they’ll know.
The Pirate run was just pure fun. It was better then going to the movies, better then going out to eat. The people we’ve spent time with the past nine weeks has been great. I can also say that the food at the end of the run was the best food I’d had in a while – it almost always is when you’re sweaty, tired, and hungry.
So, now you it’s your turn. Get out and start living a happier life as a pirate! Arrr!
Sincerely,
D.W. Rigsby