The lottery question

A few years ago, my husband Homer and I started asking each other the lottery question: What would you be doing with your life if you won the lottery? (subtext: I didn’t have to work for a living).

Not necessarily an easy question to answer. It requires taking an honest look at your life.  And taking an honest look at your life takes courage.

Homer ran a construction company for more than 20 years —and was still in the midst of that when we started having this conversation. And when he asked himself the lottery question, he didn’t like the answer.

For both of us, to answer the question honestly meant we had to make changes or stay unsatisfied. Those were the options. A dear friend of mine calls my optimism dangerous – my ability to make the best of things, which is extreme, can keep me from seeing things that need to be seen. Call it a strength and a weakness. But for me it means I have to very careful and face things squarely.

Fast forward: Homer is now a full-time musician. Now, he answers the lottery question differently than he did a few years ago.

We don’t get a life, we live a life. So, he’s living his life and it’s inspiring to see (and not a little puzzling to his former colleagues.)

And me? Yes, same goes for me. I won the lottery (well, not literally). What I mean is I wake up a lot of days and feel like I have won the lottery. If tomorrow I woke up with all the money in the world, I would keep doing what I am doing: loving Homer, playing with my dogs and building Wisegate. I love what I do (most days).

There are many days that at the end of a long, hard day, I am filled with energy. Though it has been a long day with a lot of things to tackle and work through, I wrap my day fulfilled, in the midst of my destiny. (And what I am in the midst of –  getting a brand-new concept company off the ground is challenging.)

I had many years where this wasn’t the case. The end of a long day felt like I had been run over by a truck. Heck, the end of a lot of not-that-long days felt like I had been run over by two trucks. The money was cushy. My health suffered. The stress of not being where I needed to be wasn’t made up for by the big bucks I was being paid. I was not living my life, I was merely existing. It got to a point where I had to do something about it.

I don’t have it all figured out. I do have a taste now for the uncharted life that seems to be mine. Though it is uncertain and ever changing, I wouldn’t trade it for another.

This is a struggle for many of us. Ask yourself the lottery question. If the answer is something other than what your life looks like today, what are you waiting for?

Post note – my friend Margaret read this post before it went live and she wrote me  these truly inspiring words: “Great post! Very thought provoking (and a little depressing.)