I have a handful of what I call first world problems. It was not always so. In the not too distant past things like traffic during my commute, standing in line at Sam's Club for the privilege of shelling out three figures for vast amounts of diapers, pork tenderloin, and ready to cook dinners, the constant negotiating environment of working in an office that managed high $M amounts, and paying on the order of $2.89 and 9/10 a gallon for gasoline were major stressors in my life. I'd listen to the radio or watch cable news and people I did not know would tell me how these things impacted me, generally in a negative way, and I'd worry about them.
Take the price of gasoline as an example. If the price of gas was low, I'd be told that it was good for the consumer (presumably me), but it was damaging the earning potential of large market capitalization energy companies and was putting downward pressure on the economy. I felt just a little bit more wealthy, but I was waiting on the other shoe to drop in the event that the economy tanked and my large cap mutual fund took a beating week after week. If the price of gas was too high, someone would tell me that I had less disposable income to spend in a discretionary manner (entertainment being a big part of that "budget"...more on that later), but the economy was humming and my "deferred" enjoyment (again the large cap mutual fund) was collecting all those nickels and dimes that would one day make me a millionaire. It didn't matter if the price of gas was too low or too high. Someone was always willing to tell me how it was going to bring me down if I were willing to listen.
I have found a cure in my walking to these first world stressors, a way to find fulfillment in the way that I choose to entertain myself. In fact, I'd go so far to say that I rediscovered a bit of the art of recreation in the millions of trudging footfalls that I've managed to take over the last several months. It's recreation rather than entertainment because each step, each breath, each blister, and each foray into the heat or cold or glorious crisp temperate morning was a process of re-creating my outlook. I soon realized that I no longer had to pay (with that decreasing disposable income) for the privilege of having someone else tell me what I needed to worry about. I don't have anything really to worry about.
As I was walking through Sam's today, I realized that I am wealthy beyond all reasonable expectation. I left with 7.5 dozen eggs, 2 lbs of pork, 4 loaves of bread, 36 cups of yogurt, and enough cat food to last my overindulged felines a couple of weeks. I had enough money in my bank account to pay for this bounty, and I only had to spend about 7 minutes in line to do so. It might be a problem, but it's a great problem to have.
I used to hate going grocery shopping, but over the course of the last couple of thousand miles of pedestrianism, I found gratitude along the way, and my life is much richer for the experience.
This is the sight that greeted me this morning about six miles into what ended up being about a twelve mile day:
This glory of the universe happens on a rather routine basis for me now, but it never grows old because it is different every time. This type of vista communicates both my smallness in the face of the great cosmic powers and my special place in the grand scheme of things for being given the gift of taking it all in. The price of gas may rise and fall, but this will happen again tomorrow, and it will be fantastic. I don't even have to be there to witness it, and the greatness that it represents will still be displayed for anyone who will take the time to observe it.
One other thing that I saw this morning was further evidence (if you're still jonesing for someone to tell you what to think of the beauty that surrounds you ever day and how it is evidence of some lurking disaster):
All of that might be true, but I doubt it. Sometimes a pyramid shaped mosaic is just that, and the location, particularly after a bit of low intensity exercise (actually practice...at recreation) was a glorious place to start a day filled with gratitude for my first world problems.
Take the price of gasoline as an example. If the price of gas was low, I'd be told that it was good for the consumer (presumably me), but it was damaging the earning potential of large market capitalization energy companies and was putting downward pressure on the economy. I felt just a little bit more wealthy, but I was waiting on the other shoe to drop in the event that the economy tanked and my large cap mutual fund took a beating week after week. If the price of gas was too high, someone would tell me that I had less disposable income to spend in a discretionary manner (entertainment being a big part of that "budget"...more on that later), but the economy was humming and my "deferred" enjoyment (again the large cap mutual fund) was collecting all those nickels and dimes that would one day make me a millionaire. It didn't matter if the price of gas was too low or too high. Someone was always willing to tell me how it was going to bring me down if I were willing to listen.
I have found a cure in my walking to these first world stressors, a way to find fulfillment in the way that I choose to entertain myself. In fact, I'd go so far to say that I rediscovered a bit of the art of recreation in the millions of trudging footfalls that I've managed to take over the last several months. It's recreation rather than entertainment because each step, each breath, each blister, and each foray into the heat or cold or glorious crisp temperate morning was a process of re-creating my outlook. I soon realized that I no longer had to pay (with that decreasing disposable income) for the privilege of having someone else tell me what I needed to worry about. I don't have anything really to worry about.
As I was walking through Sam's today, I realized that I am wealthy beyond all reasonable expectation. I left with 7.5 dozen eggs, 2 lbs of pork, 4 loaves of bread, 36 cups of yogurt, and enough cat food to last my overindulged felines a couple of weeks. I had enough money in my bank account to pay for this bounty, and I only had to spend about 7 minutes in line to do so. It might be a problem, but it's a great problem to have.
I used to hate going grocery shopping, but over the course of the last couple of thousand miles of pedestrianism, I found gratitude along the way, and my life is much richer for the experience.
This is the sight that greeted me this morning about six miles into what ended up being about a twelve mile day:
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| Anacostia River Sunrise |
One other thing that I saw this morning was further evidence (if you're still jonesing for someone to tell you what to think of the beauty that surrounds you ever day and how it is evidence of some lurking disaster):
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| Those Crafty Masons And Their All Seeing Eye - Watching Over Our Nation's Capitol - Waiting - Plotting - Mustering the Resources To Install the One World Order - Our Freedoms Under Attack |
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