Don’t Forget to Enjoy it

While we’re all still thinking about ways to make this year better than the one before, I thought I’d point you to this timely article from the New York Times about resisting the temptation to delay pleasure.

Many of us, it turns out, are procrastinators when it comes to pleasure. You know, the people who don’t use the pretty soaps because they’re just “too nice” or who are saving that great bottle of champagne for a special occasion that never seems to come?

Maybe you’re one of those people, too.

Start having fun!

If you are, it’s time to break that nasty habit. If now’s not the time to have fun and enjoy the things and people we have around us, then when is the right time?

The story talks about the fact that people who live in Chicago have seen more of the landmarks in other cities than they have in their own, and most of the time they only visit the zoo or the museums when entertaining people from out of town. In fact, a study found people are more likely to visit the tourist attractions when they’re about to move away from a big city, feeling that they might never get back to experience them.

We think we’ll always have more time

The problem, behavioral experts say, is that we understand that we may have limited money in the future, but we like to believe that we’ll magically have more time in the future to do those things we aren’t doing today.

But if you look back over the past decade, you’ll probably realize that you’re busier than you used to be, not more at leisure. That’s not likely to change.

But waiting for the perfect time to open a bottle of wine or cash in the frequent flier miles can lead to such high expectations of that perfect event that you never end up using the cherished thing, and that’s really sad.

It can be difficult to let yourself give in to the pleasure of the everyday and to enjoy even the “special” things when there’s not a special occasion to do so.

The truth is, every day is special, or ought to be. Any day is worthy of a little bit of happiness, a little splurge when you can afford it.

The joy of building a business

This has to do with building your freelance career in that you need to remember to enjoy the ride. Yes, building a business is a lot of hard work, but if you’re doing what you want, what you enjoy, you should be getting a lot of joy and satisfaction out of even the busy times.

Take a few minutes this week to revel in the happiness surrounding whatever you’re doing. Even when times are tough, there’s sure to be something that you can celebrate. For me, right now, it’s that I work from home and don’t have to go outside in the snow. And, of course, I have this amazing little girl to share my days with, even though it means not getting as much work done as I’d like.

I’d love to hear what you have to celebrate, and if there’s a pleasure you’ve been delaying that you can put on your schedule now.