Making a Life
Don’t get so caught up making a living that you forget to make a life.
I heard the following short story at Stake Conference this past weekend and it reassured me that Yessidey and I are making the right decision to travel back-and-forth to Oregon as much as possible to be with dad during his fight with stomach cancer:
A businessman was at the pier of a small coastal village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The businessman complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The fisherman replied “only a little while”.
The businessman then asked why he didn’t stay out longer and catch more fish? The fisherman said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The businessman then asked, but what do you do with the rest of your time? The little fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a nap with my wife, and play guitar with my friends.
The businessman scoffed, “I have an MBA in business administration and I could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat. With a bigger boat you will catch and bring back even more fish and then could buy several boats; eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Also, instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you would sell directly to the processor and eventually open your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to New York City where you would run your expanding enterprise.”
The fisherman asked, “And how long will this all take?”
To which the businessman replied, “15-20 years.”
“What comes after that?”
The businessman laughed and said, “That’s the best part! When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions.”
“Millions, really? Then what?!”
The businessman said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take naps with your wife, and play guitar with your friends.”
I totally agree. I too was in the same boat. I wanted to do it all – family, work and school. My husband made me realize that I was spreading myself thin and that I needed to eliminate work or school for the sake of our family. I decided to leave work. I am now a full time student and work at a friend’s firm for only three hours a week. I have learned to budget and we are quite comfortable living on one income. The best part is that I spend almost every day with the one year old, I get to pick up the kids from school, I start on dinner early, and we have a ton of family time now.