Save the other half for pleasure and adventure

Being in Germany always gives me major flashbacks to my years as a teenager. I was taught that work is all-important, naps are for sissies, and being lazy is the worst thing a person can be. 

It took me many, many years to be able to enjoy doing nothing guilt-free. But now? Now I have become very good at it. I can leave the dishes till tomorrow. Let the grass grow another week before I will eventually mow it - or better yet, let the geese take care of it for us. (Geese love grass and are amazingly efficient grass mowers, almost as good as horses.) Say no to extra work, because I have better things to do, like hanging out with the dogs, enjoying the sunshine and watch the pigeons fly.

I came across this quote this morning, and it just summed up my new attitude nicely. I didn't know who Edward Abbey was, but I like his style!

"One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am - a reluctant enthusiast... a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. 

It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it's still here. 

So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. 

Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. 

I promise you this: You will outlive the bastards." 

(Edward Abbey) 

Love, Miriam

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