⌛ Contrast in lifestyles

I go to Facebook every day, mostly because among my friends there, my daughters are also on that page (the same email address as I use here).
Today, I posted about how it was cloudy and a slight drizzle so I took a nap this afternoon. Then after waking up I was going to walk down to the water (2 minutes away) and stare at the Pacific Ocean. After I posted it, I read a post from a friend of mine named Vikki Taylor. She was talking about a seminar they had about how to deal with the economy in Texas.
Humm....... I wonder which one of us has the better lifestyle.....can you say "quality of life"?
There, they try to survive the economics, here, I wonder if the sunset is going to be beautiful.
I have almost completely forgotten that I use to manage a large corporation there.
Interesting contrast......

 

I can imagine well what it does to you Ron.
I had 5 burn-outs during the last 10 years of my working life within a big global company.
Not that i did not like the work but because I did TOO much like to work and spend nearly all my time to it and did not realise what I was missing.
Until you sit (it happened 5 times) in a chair, staring to a blue sky in front of you which seems grey however to you, and having no fun in live anymore.
Until the burn-out is over and you start doing it again ...... working and working !!)
Yes ...........I also finally learned that THIS is much better than the stress-drive I had.
I still follow daily via internet the headlines of the papers in my country .
It does SO WELL to realise every time that I'm not anymore part of that circus :D

 

good for you gentlemen. but sometimes, life chooses for us and not the other way around.

ron: yes sunsets in these parts are lovely.

jellyfish: i have had burnouts too. you are right sir, when the burnout is over, the cycle begins again. sad..just too sad.

 

Well, I use to be in a very small group worldwide (so I was told) that was a design engineer for Class 1, Division 1, air conditioners and pressurizers for the petro-chemical industry.
I designed them, concept wise, then I had a mechanical engineer that tweeked my design, then I had an auto-cad guy that put it on paper. Then I gave it to the shop foreman to build. But all of the time it was being built, I had to oversee each project.
So it was not a "hard" job, it was just extremely stressful. I was the number 2 man in the corporation.
After one 2 week period where I worked 81 hours straight time and 86 hours overtime, I got pnemonia and spent 5 days in the hospital. During that 5 days I decided that I was not going to continue with that lifestyle any more.
Plus, anytime one of our units stopped working anywhere in the world, I had to go repair it because I designed the control wiring also.
Our original plans were for Rudy to come to the US and I thought that it would not be much of a life for her with me working like that. So I asked her how she felt about me
moving to phils. 35 days later I stepped off the plane at Lumbia Airport.
Now, "there ain't no turnin back".
Do I miss it? Absolutely not.
Do I miss the $90k a year? Of course. But I can live without it.
This is still, and always will be, the best decision I ever made.

 

As an after-thought......very few people will put total happiness ahead of everything else. We all try to compromise and have some of everything.
Not me.....never again

 

hi ron,

good for you, it only took a mere five days and pneumonia for you to see and decide what matters most. ive been in and out of burn outs...coming to these parts to enjoy life and back again..and the vicious circle starts again. all the while i know i am not getting any younger, any stronger. the thing is, we are not as fortunate to make a choice. circumstances made that for most of us. you are right, you took the road less traveled by...the real road to happiness. less traveled, for to do so, one must be so brave..and willing to let go of all the other burdens of surviving this modern world.

thank you for sharing.

 

I'm not sure "brave" is a good word to describe me. Maybe "stupid" or "dumb".
To be very honest, I was scared to death.
Stepping foot on that airplane in Houston was the hardset thing in my life to do.
I burned every bridge behind me. At 68 years old I gave up a job with absolute job security making $90k a year. I sold my gun collection that can never be replaced. I sold my Harley, that was almost paid for, and will never have the money again for another
one. I sold all of my tools that I had gathered over a 35 year career. I sold all of my household items. I even sold my jewerly because I thought a Rolex and gold rings would not look right here. I gave my car to my oldest daughter.
When I stepped on that plane, I had nothing left but some money and my social security check each month......and hopes that Rudy would accept me that way.
For 33 hours and 10 minutes I shook with fear while coming here.
I walked out of Lumbia Airport and Rudy put her arms around me and the shaking stopped.
Brave? No, not really.
All I want is peace and happiness and I did what I had to do to get it.....at any cost.
And, FYI, all of my friends and co-workers called me stupid. So maybe I am.
I may be stupid, but I am now a happy and peaceful stupid.
I did have a return ticket for 6 days later. But I really had nothing to go back to.
I asked Rudy on the next morning what I should do about the ticket. She said for me to throw it away, that she was never going to let me go. So I did.
The Philippines is my home now and forever.
Sorry, I didn't mean to preach.....

 

I'm not sure "brave" is a good word to describe me. Maybe "stupid" or "dumb".
To be very honest, I was scared to death.
Stepping foot on that airplane in Houston was the hardset thing in my life to do.
I burned every bridge behind me. At 68 years old I gave up a job with absolute job security making $90k a year. I sold my gun collection that can never be replaced. I sold my Harley, that was almost paid for, and will never have the money again for another
one. I sold all of my tools that I had gathered over a 35 year career. I sold all of my household items. I even sold my jewerly because I thought a Rolex and gold rings would not look right here. I gave my car to my oldest daughter.
When I stepped on that plane, I had nothing left but some money and my social security check each month......and hopes that Rudy would accept me that way.
For 33 hours and 10 minutes I shook with fear while coming here.
I walked out of Lumbia Airport and Rudy put her arms around me and the shaking stopped.
Brave? No, not really.
All I want is peace and happiness and I did what I had to do to get it.....at any cost.
And, FYI, all of my friends and co-workers called me stupid. So maybe I am.
I may be stupid, but I am now a happy and peaceful stupid.
I did have a return ticket for 6 days later. But I really had nothing to go back to.
I asked Rudy on the next morning what I should do about the ticket. She said for me to throw it away, that she was never going to let me go. So I did.
The Philippines is my home now and forever.
Sorry, I didn't mean to preach.....

 

I'm sorry, for some reason my iPhone is double posting. I'll try to be more careful from now on.

 

no sir..i do not think it is being stupid nor dumb. your friends just did not understand. in fact so few have the capacity to understand. i am saving your post to show my young ones how to live life.

do you still have pics of your gun collection sir?... i also love tools..

id bring along a rolex if ever i have one...though the manual says regular servicing every 18 months for the gmt time master II. and regular service costs 6K pesos.

by the way, it was perfectly alright..its not preaching. i value the lesson in your experience. if i dont come back to dgte in a bodybag, i dream that someday i might follow such roads less traveled...and enjoy the beautiful sunsets here.