How We Change

I’m sitting at my desk working, when it occurs to me that this week and next I will have a 3-1/2 day workweek because of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

Hurrah!

My attitude towards the holidays is a 180 degree change from when I launched ACF Property Management, Inc. in 1968.  At that time I resented any and all time off, because I was building a business as quickly as I could, and any day that my staff and I didn’t work was one day longer to arrive at my business destination.  I was definitely in a hurry, and worked virtually every weekend.

Last night, Daveen gently reminded me that one of my tasks in this life is to learn patience.  I agreed with her, but told her that I am often more patient today than I was fifty years ago.

Today, if someone is one minute late for a meeting or telephone call I don’t fly into an immediate internal rage, or start calculating just how much each minute of waiting is costing me.  I have learned to wait without complaint.  That is, without external complaint.

Another large personal change in my life has been my relationship to food. Instead of living to eat, I now eat to live.  As a kid, my breakfast was four eggs, eight slices of bacon, and four slices of buttered toast.  No wonder I weighed 207 pounds on the day I graduated high school.  Today my breakfast is one egg, one slice of Canadian bacon (20 calories), and one slice of toast (still buttered). During the pandemic I have lost almost 20 pounds, and now weigh less than I did when I was a teenager.

For most of my life my goal was to be a couch potato.  I became quite good at sitting still.  Moving is what cars are for. Today I aim to walk a few miles every day.

My original attitude toward Christmas, except for receiving a present, leaned toward “Bah, Humbug.”  Taking time off from work?  Really?

Today, I actually enjoy Christmas.  Our tree is trimmed in the family room, lights twinkling day and night, and we look forward to spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day together with a small group of our family.

Life is change.  We are life.

Happy Holidays to all.

Love,

Alan