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Improve or Play?


“I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world and a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.”

― E. B. White

If ever there was a quote that I can 100% relate to, it is this one. Actually, I have a long list of quotes that just hit me in the gut with the truth they speak (to me) but I do love this one from Charlotte’s Web author E.B. White. I have noticed that I have always had this battle going on in my life, since age 18 when I decided to be a professional social worker. “Work hard, play hard” was another way that I lived this quote and all through my teenage year to early thirties, I did just that. As the years have gone by I have realized that my desire to improve the world and play has not diminished, try as I may. And believe me I have tried not to care about improving anything but myself. But my compassionate heart (sometimes I think “Yeah thanks Mom” in a sarcastic way) and the “rescuer” in me always seems to remind me that I was born to help make a difference in this world on a scale much larger than just myself or my circle of family or friends or local community. It has taken me 20 + years to finally own that, accept it and actually speak it. But my constant desire for savoring all of life’s adventures and my constant desire for change and growth (which amounts to fun/play for me) always seemed to get in the way of my grand plans  In 2016, I decided that I was no longer going to be torn between my desire to improve the world or enjoy it. I decided back then gosh darn, I am going to do both via my edutainment and social enterprise business goals. I realized somewhere along the way and upon further reflection, that in fact I have been doing both off and on for most of my life. It’s my lack of patience with the process, with the journey that sometimes makes me think I should be further along than I am. Or perhaps it is because I need further improvement in myself. Either way, one good thing (and I feel immensely appreciative of) that came out of 2020 and the “great pause” aka COVID-19 was the time to both work on myself (thus improve the world by improving myself) and having the time to play (practice my DJing skills), can’t wait to host my first dance party…2022 maybe?

As always, please join me in both improving the world (or just yourself) and enjoying the journey (playing):

www.vida805.com

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