My goal is to build a life I don't need a vacation from.

“My goal is to build a life I don’t need a vacation from.” – Rob Hill

I wrote this quote down some time ago in my gym while I was working out.  I always keep a pad and pen handy to capture ideas.  I came across it again tonight.  It’s nighttime.  For those of you that are new, I’ll tell you a secret – but let’s keep it between us, ok?  I am not up each morning before 6 am eastern time writing Think Daily messages.  I write them in advance – usually about one week ahead, and they go out at the exact same time each morning.  Mostly I write in the mornings, and mostly on weekend mornings.

One subscriber asked if I write the messages.  Humph…  Yes they are written by AI – Actual Intelligence.  LJAI to be exact.  

So, about this idea of having a life you don’t need a vacation from.  I think I am there.  I love what I do, and I don’t get into any ruts.  Maybe I’ll have a day that did not go well, which is often because I had too much expectation of how much I’d get done, and ran out the clock before I got it all done.  A day filled with unplanned distractions might throw me off.  I’m pretty set on what I want to slay in any one day, and I get great satisfaction of it all goes to my ambitious expectations.

I live in Connecticut.  I was born here.  I love Connecticut.  I think many people have an affinity to where they were born.  But we have winter.  Winter stinks.  Well, I used to think that.  Maybe it’s PTSD from when I was framing houses.  15 degrees?  Foot of snow?  No matter.  I needed to eat.  Get out there and shovel the first-floor deck I framed yesterday and build those walls, boy!  Just kidding about the PTSD.  I loved what I was doing.  I built my first of 23 houses when I was 18 years old.  It was an adventure, and I still feel like I am on that adventure!

Maybe why I think winter stinks is that my hobby is being outside and riding dirt bikes and working in the woods or building stuff like stone walls and trails and bridges, and in the winter it’s no fun.  But now I realize, honestly as I type this post, that winter gives me the chance to be someone else for a while, to do different things and live in a different world.  When spring comes I am ready and appreciate the world of spring, then of summer, then of fall.  The seasons are different here, and it all contributes to my not getting bored with my life.

Winter used to get me down, but I snapped out of that three years ago.  Now I embrace it.  Cold?  Good.  Rain – Good.  Snow?  Good.  Whatever – good!

I love my work, and creating something from nothing.  I love my home, and love it more since I rebuilt it from a fire ten years ago where I lost the house and everything in it.  I love the diversity of people I know and call friends.  I am blessed to have the capacity to have crafted this life and to recognize it was in me to do so.  

When I travel, it’s not for a vacation from my life.  I love my life.

There is no more important work for you than to design and create a life that is fulfilling and joyful.  One where your activities match your values and one that you are proud of.

Life is the ultimate creative act.

I hope you take advantage of your chance and have no regrets in the end.