The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. (Walt Disney)

Thinking about the musings from DAY 2: Working For The Man…

I believe at the end of the day, two things that weigh heavily on our minds, especially as we age and approach the mid-point (mid-life crisis), in our lives are:

1) Finances (or money), and;

2) Time. 

To me, I think that the majority of us believe that it is a zero-sum game: you either become wealthy, but usually at the cost of time, or you give up wealth, but seem to have more free time.  It is possible to find exceptions to both of these rules of course, but instead of wasting time looking for those exceptions and debating the validity of them, I think that one should shift their focus on something I believe supersedes both money and time. 

That is, your legacy. 

The reason why I think that one should shift their focus away from their finances and time, and focus on their legacy is…

The internet. 

The internet is definitely a game changer for the human race.  Since the dawn of mankind, humans have all been leaving behind a legacy.  In class, I refer to this concept as “Man Expresses Himself”.  Whether expressing Himself on a cave wall or in cyberspace, throughout time, mankind has been leaving their legacy behind for future generations to see, whether they realize it or not. 

As of 2018, it has been estimated that at least 108 billion humans have lived on planet Earth.  That means that at least 108 billion people have already left, or are currently leaving, their legacy.  

Thanks to the internet, leaving behind a legacy has never been more simple.

And excuse free.

Before the internet, odds were that the details of your life would not be remembered after 3 generations after you die: your kids, grandkids and maybe, your great-grandkids, would remember you.  After that, at best, for most people, a couple of your lifetime facts may take up a paragraph or two, or maybe a couple of pages at best, in a history book. 

For those looking for fame, it is fleeting indeed.  

But what if you were able to leave behind something more tangible than a couple of facts in a history book?  Something that could last much longer than a fleeting 3 generations after you?  Whether it be a piece of art like a sculpture or a painting, or maybe a building, or a philosophy or technology, whatever the case, mankind has been leaving that stuff behind, forever.  

Why not you?

But, what if you have issues like me, keeping those blasted colors inside those ever shrinking paint-by-number spaces on the page? 

What if you are not talented, or smart, or rich enough, to paint or sculpt or built or create these items? 

Moving forward, humans are now on the cusp of truly revolutionary times, for all of us.   

Is it possible for anyone to build a website? A Blog? A YouTube channel?  After all, can’t you just go to a YouTube channel and follow the directions mentioned to build a website or a blog…

Or both? 

Those things all can last in CyberSpace long after you are dead, in fact, once out there, much longer than 3 generations after you die. 

How could anyone before this era been able to have prepared and planned for this monumental fact: truly, enduring legacies, lasting theoretically forever, as long as someone has access to a computer, or iPad, or cellphone, and WiFi? 

Considering that I have seen computers sold for around $100 and that WiFi is free at every one of the almost 30,000 Starbucks around the world, someone, somewhere, has a pretty good chance seeing your legacy online. 

In other words, never in human history has it been so easy…so accessible…and so affordable…to create a lasting legacy, that literally can stay with us forever.

The internet has pretty much eliminated any and all of our excuses to not create a lasting legacy.

Today, tomorrow, or 1000 years from today.

Dr. North has said that spending more than 40 hours on your salaried portion of your job is unwise.  But instead of thinking of refusing to work over 40 hours as sticking it to the man, why not think of it as sticking some of your ideas into CyberSpace instead? 

Why not think like an optimist instead of a pessimist?  

I believe that we all have different gifts.  It makes sense right?  I would contend that for the over 108 billion humans that have lived on planet Earth, there have been at least 108 billion different gifts they potentially could have blessed mankind with.  While they were alive, they could have wielded these gifts that potentially could have altered the course of human history…

For the better.  

In the end it matters not, based on the fact that for the overwhelming majority of those billions, over the last several thousand years, those gifts were at best remembered for at most…

3 generations after they died.  

My gift?  I think, that after 25 years of teaching high school students, that is my gift. 

I did not develop my gift of teaching.  I did not inherit my gift of teaching.  At the end of the day, I believe that my gift has been given to me.  Who gave it to me?  That, I suppose can be discussed another day. 

Upon deeper reflection of this thought of who gave me my gift to teach, I do not take this idea lightly.  Hence, my sense of urgency to begin the process of acting on this gift.  To teach.  50 plus years after being born.  Knowing that the average lifespan is between 70-80 years. 

Time, at least for me, is running out….     

Do not feel discouraged if you are uncertain about whether or not you even have a gift. Do not feel discouraged if you think you have a gift but you have wasted time, energy and money trying to discover it or turn it into something more.  Instead, understand where you are in relationship to the over 100 billion that have been on planet Earth before you.  Knowing what you know now about the incredible opportunity that those before you could have hardly ever have dreamed about, what are you doing about it personally?  What are you doing today, right now, starting on how you will map out your legacy for the benefit of others after you?  Got too much on your plate today?  Remember, the sun will eventually rise sometime around the world tomorrow, and a new day will begin.       

6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; 7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; 8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness. (ROMANS 12:6-8 KJV)

Was today’s blog a little confusing at times? Was the content perhaps a little overwhelming? Did you feel lost not understanding some or most of the subject matter?

Those feelings are totally understandable and it is ok to have one or more of those feelings. Remember that you are reading Day 3: 108 Billion Legacies…Which One Are You?

If you haven’t been in class since the first day of school…or when the project began…or when the contract was first signed, etc., these feelings make perfect and logistical sense.

Please feel free to go back to where all of this began:

Day 1: What Is A Mid-Life Crisis?

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. (J.R.R. Tolkien)

Thinking about the musings from DAY 1: What Is A Mid-Life Crisis?…

I believe that the concept that we refer to as a ‘mid-life crisis’ ultimately comes not from ourselves, but from above.  I think it is not a crisis at all, but a nudge if you will, to refocus your energy on what is really important...

Your legacy.

I refer to again back to Dr. Gary North as I now turn to finances.  

Whether we wish to admit it or not, we worry about our finances.  Are we making enough?  Are we supporting our loved ones?  Will there be enough money at the end of the week?  The month?  Can we afford those payments, even at zero percent interest? Negative interest? 

In other words, Dr. North contends, that we spend a lot of time worried, (and worrying), about our finances. 

At the same time, we are probably not worried about our calling. 

He contends that at the end of the day, it is because of our lack of attention to our calling, that leads to our problems with finances.  

From Dr. North:

“You should not spend more than 40 hours a week on the salaried portion of your job.  The other hours should go to starting a side business to retire into, working on your calling to retire, into, and time with your family…It is unwise to devote overtime to anything salaried.  You lose your most precious resource: time.  Your employer will gain the lion’s share of your time’s value.  If your job requires more than 40 hours a week, look for a new job.  Otherwise, you will find at age 50 that you are not ready for the transition….” 

Dang!  Talk about sticking it to the man….

When I first read it, it hit me like a ton of bricks.  

I think at the end of the day, part of the reason why these comments made by Dr. North hit so close to home with me is the fact that in January of 2018, my friends from high school started turning 50.  In fact, in September of 2018, I turned 50. 

I realized that I was spending, (and continue to spend), more than 40 hours a week at my salaried job.  I also realized that although I was in theory working on my calling, the work itself was too far and few between…

And pretty weak at that.

With that being said, I began to realize that I am having a mid-life crisis. 

I also realized that I believe that my mid-life crisis could definitely be a lot worse than it actually is. 

I believe that although I have a lot of things bouncing around in my head that I wish to ultimately put down on paper, or online, or whatever, the idea of transitioning from my full-time job to my calling has been on my mind and heart and soul for several years now. 

It is really just now that I have actually begun the process of finally acting on my calling.  Or, at least in my mind, what I think is my calling.  This realization has grown more apparent now that I am on the other side of 50. 

Where will this all end up? 

I don’t know. 

What I do know is that the focus on my calling is almost like a nudge.  And this nudge feels like it has become more intentional, and a little bit clearer than in the past couple weeks, months and certainly last couple of years.  It’s almost like a hand on my back, gently moving me towards the laptop to type this stuff out.

At least, in-between my day job…and paying the bills…and going to the grocery story…and doing the laundry…. 

Is it all for nothing? 

I don’t think so. 

I think there is much more to all of this than meets the eye.  My brain is so scattered on so many fronts, there is no way I can possibly see the end-game right now. 

In fact, in this lifetime, I may never see the end-game at all.  

Am I alone with these series of revelations?

If you say YES…you are probably at least close to, or perhaps older than me.

If you say NO…you just aren’t old enough yet.

Just wait. It will hit you.

Eventually….

Do not feel discouraged if you are working for the man. Do not feel discouraged if you boil on the inside and wish to stick it to the man.  Those feelings at the end of the day will not feed your family and provide the basic necessities of life.  Instead, stop and look around…be grateful at the end of the day for what you do have, instead of longing for what you wish you desire to have or could have had.  What’s past is past, there is nothing you or I can do about that.  What I do know is that for all of our mistakes, stupid, intentional, accidental or otherwise, the sun will still rise tomorrow, (unless the forecast calls for a cloudy day), and we all get to start fresh when we wake up to take on that day.  I believe that there is comfort in knowing that.  A fresh do over, daily.     

His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. (Matthew 25:21 KJV)

Was today’s blog a little confusing at times? Was the content perhaps a little overwhelming? Did you feel lost not understanding some or most of the subject matter?

Those feelings are totally understandable and it is ok to have one or more of those feelings. Remember that you are reading Day 2: Working For The Man.

If you haven’t been in class since the first day of school…or when the project began…or when the contract was first signed, etc., these feelings make perfect and logistical sense.

Please feel free to go back to where all of this began:

Day 1: What Is A Mid-Life Crisis?

I am unsure how to approach this, so I will do it the best way that I know how.  I am hoping that what I present makes sense as I attempt to put this information in a logical flow for you to understand. 

I know that there is a need out there for looking for answers, and I hope to fill a much needed void that you, and many more like you, have. In fact, my goal of these writings is in the end two-fold:

1) To present some ideas about the universe and our roles in it that hopefully make sense to you and;

2) To help myself to gain an inner peace that I have been searching for, for quite a while now. 

In the age of computers, Internet, and instant information, I have no more excuses to at least try to make some sort of an impact, for both you and I.  

Seeing that I teach for a living and a practicing Christian, (when I am not sinning of course), I feel compelled to try to do more.  But how to accomplish this goal?  As a high school teacher in the public school system, I do not shy away from questions asked by my students in class and I hope that these experiences will help you to answer one, some, or many questions that you may have, about yourself and why you are here. 

I may not know all of the answers, but I am wise enough to know that when a question is too much for me, I can find out the answers eventually from others more equipped than I.  

The internet truly is a modern miracle….

I have been noodling around with this idea for almost a year now. 

Well, maybe even longer than that.  A lot longer.

There have been many obstacles impeding the finished product, or for that matter, really even starting this:

1) There are a lot of holes in my basic outline;

2) I have been lazy;

3) I have OCD;

4) Life happens;

With that being said however, I feel now that I have run out of excuses.  I feel that it is time to move forward and actually put this thing together once and for all. 

Please be aware that my main job for 25 years running now is teaching Advanced Placement World History and European History to high school students.  Although you may get miffed at my butchering of the English language from time to time, or may pull out a calculator on the spot because my basic math appears to not add up, please keep in mind of two things when you read my stuff:

1) I am not doing it to upset you, I do not have an absolute command of the English language, and I have been known to ‘Phat Phinger’ the buttons on my calculator, despite what those outside the system may think.  For the last 15 years, I have been teaching the students what matters most when responding to a prompt by writing an essay: identify what you have learned and explain why it matters. Notice that spelling, grammar and punctuation are secondary;

2) I work with teen-agers, so I use some of their lingo to make the history concepts I am trying to teach, in theory at a college level, applicable to them in the real world, so that it makes sense to them.

With some of those basics out of the way, let’s begin.

The two facts below I found online from a guy named Dr. Gary North.  I have found these two facts quite thought provoking, as they relate to one’s calling in life:

1) At age 50, (he believes), you should be spending at least 35% of your non-family time on your calling. This percentage should grow, year by year. A good target is 1% per year.  That means then that;

2) By age 65, (he believes), you should be devoting 50% of your time to your calling. If you can accelerate this transition, all the better. 

I don’t need a calculator out to know that I am already far behind that 35% number as I just passed my 52nd birthday a couple of months ago.

Here is a bible verse that I read not so long ago, that not only helps what Dr. Gary North is saying about one’s calling make perfect sense, but ultimately perhaps helps to explain what a ‘mid-life crisis’ is:

The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. (Psalm 90:10 KJV*) 

*For sake of simplicity, I will post all Bible verses in blue.  The KJV stands for: King James Version.  When I am pulling Bible verses, I tend to use the King James Bible as my reference and for consistency.  I believe that it is the most difficult to understand with all of the Old English that is in there, but at the same time, I think that if we can get a handle on the King James Version, I think that in and of itself is quite an accomplishment.  

The King James Version is the Bible version that I will use going forward….

I am not good at math but I think what the author of Psalms is saying is the following:

A score is 20 years, so threescore years and ten means 70 years and fourscore years then means 80 years.  That means that a full, human lifespan is roughly between 70 to 80 years, whether they believe in the Bible, the author of Psalms, or not.  To me, I think that when we hit around 40 plus years, the ‘mid-life crisis’ that we feel is actually God nudging us towards our calling.  He is trying to get us to recognize that we are at about our mid-way point here on Earth and it’s time to begin the transition towards our calling, that is, leaving a true, lasting impression for the generations that follow.  I think that this may explain why so many of us begin to feel that sense of angst, fear, longing, whatever you want to call it, in our lives.  I think that these normal reactions are more acute with those that at the end of the day are unchurched and sense that their lives are coming closer to a close.  The realization that after a couple of decades of work and paychecks and a house and a couple of cars and maybe kids…the idea that there has to be more, starts to sink in, panic perhaps, and thus the ‘mid-life crisis’ that we all experience to various degrees of frequency and intensity. 

I believe more and more that ultimately the more you lean on God and the Bible, the less your mid-life crisis.

Do you think that that last paragraph with all of the references to God are silly and irrational and baseless? 

Perhaps they are. 

How about you re-read that paragraph above then without any of the references to God.  

Does it make sense to you now?

If so, can we then both agree then that a mid-life crisis is still a mid-life crisis, whether you believe God is a part of it or not?

Do not feel discouraged about having a ‘mid-life crisis’.  I think it’s normal for all of humanity, whether they want to admit it or not.  Do not feel discouraged if you feel that up until this point in your life, you feel empty, pointless, and directionless, I think we all feel those things to varying degrees as we get older.  I believe it’s a God thing, trying to nudge us in the right direction.  We all gotta start somewhere right?

I want to try to keep these messages short and to the point to prevent drifting.  So with that being said, I want to close with the following two quotes, one from the former lead singer of Pink Floyd, Roger Waters and the other the Psalms verse referenced above:   

And you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it’s sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you’re older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death. (Roger Waters)

The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. (Psalm 90:10 KJV)

At the end of the day, I think they are both saying the same thing, don’t you?

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