Monday, January 7, 2008

Year in Review 3: Fun and Friendship

Part and parcel of this transformation from being achievement oriented to just being present, has been my shift to pursue some things just for fun. Probably the biggest new pleasure for me this past year was playing on the co-ed soccer league. And our team very much fit my state of being. We all enjoyed learning the game, no one was too set on winning, and we just went out and had a good time. I hadn’t really been involved in a purely recreational sport since college. The co-ed league inspired me to try out for the men’s national team which in turn inspired me to get into better shape. Angelo and I took up running together a few mornings a week, and it’s been something that I’ve come to really look forward to. It’s a time to just run, like a kid (well, at least for the first 100 yards), and to socialize and solve the world’s problems. It’s been a great new friendship.

Blogging has been another source of new friendships. The blogging itself has been fun, but at times, it seems like a pain, and every time I feel the pressure of having to post something, I just sit back, and let the week go by, trying not to get anxious about the lack of posts. Boni, Jeff and Brad are friends that I’ve gotten to know through blogging, and although I hardly spend time with them, I enjoy their perspectives, and being in touch with their lives, radically different from my own. Any year with new friends is a great year.

I’ve also adopted a new set of criteria before engaging in new endeavors. I get a lot of requests from people to join their cause, or to pursue various business opportunities, and although I’m almost always tempted, I’ve been successfully sticking to the criteria that emerged during the year: Will this be fun, and will this simplify my life? If not, then I let it glide by. For 2008, one of my major goals is in a way a non-goal – to have fun. Woooohooooo!

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