I think a lot when I bike. Biking long distances is very meditative and, depending on the route, offers some good quality think time. Even though I haven't been logging many miles on my bike lately, I have been thinking a lot (since I am, after all, a classic overthinker, as I've confessed before).
Well then. Here is what I've been pondering lately - and I warn you, this may sound "out there".
This past week, I've been trying to rectify these two perspectives on life:
1) "Life is too short to waste time listening to bad music," said by yours truly; and
2) "Never mind your happiness; do your duty," said by Peter Drucker, renowned management guru.
I know it may be a stretch to call Number 1 a perspective on life. But think about it conceptually. Why waste time listening to bad music when there is so much good music out there? Substitute the analogy to music with any number of things and you get the picture.
This really has to do with the whole 'life is short' mentality. You never know how much time you have so you better have fun, take chances, do the things you love and really live your life. I've been learning to embrace this philosophy more and more the older I get and the more good music I listen to.
On to Number 2, which I first read last weekend when I was searching for quotes by Peter Drucker (long story). Anyway, when I stumbled on this one - "Never mind your happiness; do your duty," - it literally felt like someone threw cold water on my face. How stark. And where's the fun in that?
But you know the really annoying thing? After I thought about it I realized he is right to a large extent. Sometimes you just have to turn off the music and do what's required. And when you have that mentality, some decisions are really easy to make.
Both philosophies can have their downfalls if taken to the extreme. So the question I've been trying to answer now is how you do both. Hopefully, if you can strike a good balance between the two, you'll be able to do your duty while wasting as little time as possible listening to bad music. Or ideally, you'll be listening to good music while doing your duty.
So that's what I've been thinking about during my small windows of free time lately. Told you it was out there.
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1 comment:
OK, I'll bite.
How you define "good music" might somewhat bridge the gap between the two outlooks. If doing your duty furthers an overall goal (the good music of keeping a job you mostly like that pays the bills, or is what your kid needs to be well-raised) but just isn't what you'd prefer to do in the moment, is that really so negative?
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