We are standing in those waters when the tide is turning. For so long the waters have flowed in just one direction, causing the sands beneath our feet to become etched and our bodies slowly sinking into the ground that we believed would hold us up. Now the tide has begun to turn. The waters are far more convoluted, with the pull diminishing and now becoming more of a effervescent burble over our feet. The flow of the sand now is slowly reversing but also is buffeted by the flow of the tide in either direction.
“God leads me beside still waters”, is a well known verse. It speaks of not being in the face of the full torrent of water, but taking time in the quieter pools; perhaps in that period when the tide changes.
How will we fare with the water in the new direction? It might depend upon whether it ebbs or flows. Ebbs sounds very much like the water drawing back, clinging onto all it can reach, denying the way forward on their journey. Whereas, to simply flow, is to go smoothly along, possibly at a pace – but that pace may not be such a desire at present – merely just to flow. However, it may not mean that we flow with others.
For many folk they are keen to remain in that initial current, of living to work – as I used to do – of finding solace in delivering the key requirements for their role. Whereas, it might be good to let the water take us where it wants to go. To flow with nature, to allow the pressures of life, formed with so many decades of work, to diminish. Yes, they will be replaced by other pressures no doubt, but let them arrive with the water. There, we can assess their needs, and if necessary, let them pass. We can tackle them as we need.
“Not everything that weighs you down is yours to carry” –
the water can carry some of that load if we wish.
I found the dialogue interesting
Well, I think, in this journey of life, there is a time to work and a time to retire. If we don’t work when it is time to work, we will not be able to retire when it is time to retire. Perhaps, the only issue is when we don’t know how to live a life of work and how to live a life of retirement.
that’s profound! Yes we need to work, to be productive but how?
Do we work 40+ hours a week to drive up the profits for the shareholders or can we find an alternative way…
Hours depend on the company we are working for.
It all depends on the situations people are in – How easy it is to find a job of one’s choice or interest in a population filled with talented people. The more difficult it is to find and maintain a job, the lesser is the tendency of maintaining a work-life balance. This is how work life starts, at least in most of the developing / under-developed world.
Later on, people adapt to this work condition and the mental stress, when they move to the second phase where they don’t know what else to do besides work :-). Life goes on.
Many of them may not have formed interest in anything else in life, besides work, so after retirement they are clueless about how to spend their time. This is the third phase.