Three things you can't have at the same time... 🤔
Or can you? ⏰ 💵⚡️
I’m deep into reading the latest book in the stack on my bedside table: The Next Everest, by Jim Davidson. Jim is a friend of mine that I met at the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival years back when his first book, The Ledge, came out. We’ve kept in touch ever since and as much as I have enjoyed reading his (rather hair-raising) memoirs, I have also enjoyed getting to know him as a person.
For someone who has lived through the kind of ordeals he has—falling into a crevasse and needing to self-rescue… being at Camp One on Mount Everest during the 7.8 magnitude earthquake of 2015—Jim strikes me as a wise and resilient soul. So when I came across some text in The Next Everest that stopped me in my tracks, I paused to think about it.
I wrote about it recently on Instagram, this idea that we have three resources in varying amounts throughout our lifetime: time, money and energy. ⏰ 💵⚡️
Here’s the catch: it would seem we can’t get enough of all three, all at the same time.
As I wrote in my post: Early in life, we have time and energy, but no money. Midlife, we have energy and money, but no time. Later, we’ll have time and money, but no energy. Of course, these are generalizations, but there is a lot of truth in them.
But then a friend reposted my post and added another thought: How can we not fall into these generalizations?
This is a good question. It would seem we only realize in retrospect that we were wasting or misusing one of these resources. For instance, it was only when I became a parent that I realized just how much time I had wasted in my twenties. 🤪
Perhaps that is one of the great ironies of life, that we often learn too late to be able to actually change things. But perhaps we can also think about these three resources more intentionally, and more often.
Right now I’m in the midlife phase with a limited amount of time. But I’m starting to see this as a gift. Having limited time actually helps me to set boundaries and to focus only on what’s important. After years of taking on projects to build up my portfolio, or trying too hard with people, or being too perfectionistic, I’m ready—very ready—to make some changes.
The goal? To use my time, energy and money wisely so that each day is fulfilling in itself. And the best way I think I can achieve that is to simplify my life.
Anyone else with me?
If you’ve gotten this far, I’ve got something special for you. 🙌 Like this post, Comment or hit Reply and let me know your thoughts! I’ll send one respondent a copy of Jim Davidson’s book, The Next Everest!
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What’s caught my attention lately… ✨
Polynesia’s master voyageurs who navigate by nature: While I’ve been researching Polynesian wayfinding for my book, I came across this fascinating piece on BBC. I love the ‘ancient’ meets ‘modern-day’ angle to this particular story, and how a tradition has evolved to include women. This article gives you a little taste of some of the stories I’ll be telling in the memoir around the inspirations we can take from navigation history as we learn to navigate our own lives.
Check these out too… 🙌
Mailing List - Memoir - Join my list to find out more about the travelogue/memoir coming out Fall 2022.
The Wonders That I Find - My children’s book is now available! 🌿
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