Do what you love

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I often use Ace as an example of someone who is happy because he pretty much gets to do what he wants all day, every day. This mutt goes for a walk or run every morning, gets to play at a park several times a week and goes to agility class. He also takes at least three naps a day wherever he feels like it and goes on the occasional backpacking trip.

I know so many people who are not doing what they love because their job takes up so much time, or they are stuck in a routine: Get up, go to work, come home, crash on couch, go to bed. I know it’s hard to break a habit or to start a new one, that’s why I do 30-day challenges. But it shouldn’t be so hard to start doing something you love. All you have to do is stop doing what you don’t love to make time for what you should be doing.

I love writing, so I started a blog. Now I write every day on my blog and for other companies and web sites.

I love helping animals, so I started a dog running business to help people’s pets get more exercise. I also volunteer to run dogs at a shelter. Running with a shelter dog is rewarding because I know for some dogs, that run is the highlight of their week.

After thinking about it for more than a year, I quit my office job so I could spend more time doing what I love, helping dogs, writing and editing. Quitting your job might seem extreme (I know, because it took me almost two years to do it), but you don’t have to quit your job right away. Just know that the longer you stay at a job that is “OK,” the more you are putting off and ignoring what you love.

Besides quitting your job and making an entire career change, there are other ways to make time for what is important to you outside of your job. Most people I know watch at least two hours of TV every day. What could you do with that time if you watched no TV? What if you stopped checking your email every half-hour and talked to your family more or did something else you’ve been putting off like reading a book, taking your dog for a long walk or meeting a friend for coffee. Maybe you could use that time to actually figure out what it is you want to do.

I recommend you do one thing today that will make you happy, and only you know what that is. Maybe it’s meeting your best friend at a park to play soccer, planning a trip, signing up for some volunteering or making a list of what you need to do in order to quit your current job.

Our dogs don’t have the ability to plan for the future or to decide specifically what changes they want in life. Humans on the other hand can do whatever we want and we still choose to do things that make us unhappy. Take some advice from your dog. She knows life is too short to be wasted.

(Image from all-animals.blogspot.com)